This past summer, I made my first foray into the Texas Hill Country. I had just returned from a wine competition in San Diego and my wife convinced me to join her for some sort of meeting in Austin. Given that she is a pediatric oncologist who also directs one of the country’s largest pediatric palliative care teams, I didn’t ask about the talk she was going to give, I just packed my bag.

As I normally do when I accompany my wife on one of her work excursions, I quickly seek to get my drink on (if you don’t know what pediatric palliative care is, do a quick Google; or better yet, don’t and just trust me that my drinking is justified).

Considering that I had not visited a single Texas winery since moving here seven years ago, and given that there were a couple solid producers within a thirty-minute drive of the capital, I decided to brave the summertime Texas heat and planned a couple of visits. I first visited Fall Creek Vineyards, made a quick lunch stop at Salt Lick BBQ across the street, and then drove the seven minutes to Duchman Family Winery (the whole process took a bit longer since I had to wait for the car to cool down from about 347° after lunch).

There was a fairly good crowd in the stylish (with a decided Western flair) tasting room as I sidled in (I do a lot of sidling here in Texas). I was to meet with the winemaker at Duchman, Dave Reilly, but seeing as I was a few minutes early (I really don’t like being late), the uber-friendly tasting room staff was expecting me and got me started on a couple of wines while I waited for Dave.

There are two main growing areas in the state, the Texas Hill Country, where most of the wineries are, and the Texas High Plains, which many would argue produces the best fruit (given the elevation). Duchman uses pretty much all Texas High Plains fruit now, after having experimented with for a while with grapes from the Hill Country.

2021 Duchman Family Winery Roussanne Oswald Vineyard, Texas High Plains, TX: Retail $26. Stunning tropical nose with some green apple, the palate has wonderfully expressive acidity with great fruit. This is always one of my favorites from Duchman. Really fantastic. Excellent. 91 Points.

2021 Duchman Family Winery Viognier Bingham Family Vineyard, Texas High Plains, TX: Retail $28. Lovely floral and lychee nose with touches of white pepper and almond paste. Great tartness again with a suggestion of sweetness from the rather intense fruit. Impressive body as well from this 100% stainless wine. Even though there is no malolactic fermentation and no batonnage it really comes off as quite creamy and wonderful. Outstanding. 94 Points.

2021 Duchman Family Winery Sangiovese, Reddy Vineyards, Texas: Retail $28. 100% Neutral oak. Really light in color. Really light. Almost a rosé.  Dark red and blue berry fruit and brambly, even a tad herbal on the nose. Bright and expressive on the palate with subtle tannins. Nice length. Excellent. 90 Points.

After tasting through a few of the wines on the day’s tasting menu, Dave Reilly winemaker strolled in, sunglasses perched in his wavy salt and pepper hair, flips a floppin, with his “Plant Trees” t-shirt. I had to check Google Maps to make sure I was actually not still in San Diego.

Dave Reilly

It may have just been me, but Dave and I seemed to hit it off pretty quickly. He grew up in Houston and attended Memorial High School, which is all of three miles from our house. Dave originally went into construction but after he planted a vineyard on his own property in the Hill Country, he became obsessed with wine and winemaking.

After learning the craft from some of the more respected winemakers in the state, he landed a job with Duchman and he has been there ever since, a total of  17 years.

Dave then poured two wines that serve as the basis of the red wine program at Duchman, the Montepulciano and the Aglianico. Dave says that both varieties are incredibly consistent year after year, and that has certainly been my (albeit brief) experience with the wines.

2018 Duchman Family Winery Montepulciano, Oswald Vineyard, Texas High Plains, TX: Retail $35. Aged in 10% new, 90% neutral oak for four years (!). The nose is bursting with fruit: blueberry, cranberry, and tons of plum. The fruit is luscious, tart, and expressive, buoyed by plenty of tartness. A bit chewy on the finish with noticeable but subtle tannins. Excellent now, but this could age well for another 3-5 years. 92 Points. 

2017 Duchman Family Winery Aglianico Oswald Vineyard, Texas High Plains, TX: Retail $40. Bright and fruity both on the nose and the palate. Chewy and fruity this spent four years in barrel and then another year in the bottle to help those tannins soften up. It still has a ways to go, but tasting beautifully now. Excellent. 91 Points. 

Duchman Family Winery Progression 3, Texas: Retail $48. A blend of the reserve barrels of Montepulciano and Aglianico which are maintained in a solera-type system of oak barrels that contain multiple vintages and are aged for at least 30 months in the oak. About 640 cases total are produced for each “Progression”. Whoa. Dark or even really dark on the nose with considerable mocha. The palate is fruity, yes, fun, for sure, but also elegant and refined. Subtle, mostly integrated tannins suggest a long life. Whoa. Outstanding. 94 Points. 

After chatting for a bit, I mentioned to Dave that I conduct a blind tasting of American True Rosé and he quickly pulled out the Duchman pink wine for me to taste.

2022 Duchman Family Winery Dry Texas Rosé: Retail $26. 50% Dolcetto, 30% Montepulciano, 20% Aglianico. True rosé. Fruity strawberry and watermelon. Great mouthfeel with a bit of minerality, too. Very nice. Excellent. 91 Points. 

The visit ended with Dave pulling out a special project of his, a wine that he had been making for over a decade. A Muscat of all things. To be honest, his description of the process he followed making the wine had me dumbfounded. So much so that I did not take any notes (great “reporting” I know).

Oh well, I guess I will just have to make another visit to the Texas Hill Country to get that story.