Wine In Texas? Hill Country Named Top Destination For Oenophiles In 2014

(IBTimes) - Wine Enthusiast just released its list of top wine travel destinations for 2014, and while places like Mendoza, Sonoma and the Barossa Valley may come as little surprise, here’s one that might: Texas Hill Country.

Yes. We’re talking about that Texas, the hot, dry Lone Star State that’s better known for its cowboys and cattle ranches. Of course, some say those elements only add to its charm.

“Visitors may flock to Hill Country to sip wine, but they end up drinking in the romance of the Old West, too,” Wine Enthusiast’s Alexis Korman noted. Texas Hill Country is “still a sea of cowboy hats and pickup trucks,” she added, but it’s also “a place where you can sip award-winning wines in a landscape dotted with as many cacti as vines.”

For many local residents, the honor from Wine Enthusiast came as less of a shock. “It’s about time,” Wes Marshall wrote in The Austin Chronicle. “Those of us who follow Texas wines have known all along that some great wine is being made around the Hill Country … and it is wonderful to finally see our hardworking winemakers and grape growers get their proper respect from this internationally respected publication.”