The 2025 San Francisco Wine Competition was held in Cloverdale, California in the middle of January. Nearly 5,500 wines from almost a thousand wineries in North America were judge by more than 55 wine judges. With over 80% of the wine judges coming from California, the judging scales were oriented toward Californian wines. Forty nine Texas Wineries earned 296 medal including six Best of Class recognition, being:
•   Becker Vineyards 2021 Claret
•   Dove Ridge Winery 2023 Picpoul Blanc
•   English Newsom 2023 Viognier
•   Llano Estacado Verdelho
•   Pedernales Cellars 2021 GSM Melange
•   Singing Water Vineyards NV blended Cabernet Sauvignon
Ten percent of the total medals earned by Texas wineries were Double Gold Medals. In addition to the 29 Double Gold Medals, Texas wines were bestowed 65 Gold Medals, 148 Silver Medals, and 48 Bronze Medals. Those California wine judges think highly of Texas wines. You should know the wine quality is good when Gold Medal totals far exceed the number of Bronze medals. With wine quality like this, why don’t consumers demand that Texas restaurants should list on their wine menus these outstanding Texas wine?
These outstanding wines are mostly available at the wineries with little distribution to HEB, Kroger’s or SPEC’S which need thousands of cases of each wine. As our Texas wine industry matures, you will see more and more outstanding Texas wines in retail stores. It will take time to add more Texas vineyards and more capital to expand wine-making facilities. In the interim, visit those outstanding Texas wineries listed in the list of award-winning Texas wineries from the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in order to buy these award-winning wines. If California wine judges rate them so high, why not you as a consumer of Texas wines?
Ron Saikowski may be reached at rsaikowski@comcast.net.Â
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