Bingham Family Vineyards has long been known for being a fine producer of wine grapes in the Texas High Plains. They then began making their own wine under the Bingham Family Vineyards label. Their first tasting room opened in Grapevine in 2015 followed by a Fredericksburg location in 2018. Late last year the Binghams moved their Fredericksburg location to Hye and started remodeling the existing Zero 815 Winery location.
I visited the new location in Hye during the summer, but it was at the end of the day when a thunderstorm was occurring, and they were closing up for the day. I knew I would return, and I did recently. I met Forrest, the tasting room manager, who gave me a tour of the property.
The remodeling of the winery has been pretty extensive. The previous winery’s entrance was on the side of the building and the entrance is now in the rear. The current tasting room was the production area of the previous winery, and the previous tasting room is now a reserve tasting room. That is a lot of changes, but they aren’t done. Future changes planned are to replace a solid garage door in the front of the tasting room with glass so customers can view the vineyard from the tasting room. The covered patio on the side of the building will be extended around the front of the building to coincide with the new glass being added. And finally, the rear entrance will get a canopy that extends to the covered patio. There are also plans to have an AirBnB on property. Big changes are planned which shows the Binghams are serious about showcasing their Texas wine in Hye.
Reserved tasting room
The reserved tasting room is a separate tasting room where reservations for tastings can be made Friday through Sunday. One corner of the room has comfortable leather couches with windows overlooking the vineyard while the other corner holds patriarch Cliff Bingham’s piano. The rest of the room has tables along with a long tasting bar. Near the entrance from the other tasting room is the saddle that Bingham Family Vineyards won from the 2020 Houston Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition for their 2017 Dugout Red awarded as Top Texas Wine.
I began a wine tasting with Forrest at the tasting bar in the main tasting room. I was at the Grapevine location in October while I was helping judge the 2023 Lone Star International Wine Competition and wondered if any of the wines were different to the Hye location. Forrest checked and the wines were slightly different. These are the five different wine flights that can be selected:
- Red Wine Tasting
- White Wine Tasting
- Dry Wine Tasting (white, rosé, and red)
- Dry/Sweet Wine Tasting (white, rosé, and red)
- Sweet Wine Tasting (white, red)
I selected the red wine flight, and these were the wines I tasted:
- 2019 Mourvèdre
- 2019 Tempranillo
- 2019 Dugout
- 2019 Merlot
- 2020 Reserve Tempranillo
We talked about winemakers and he said the current red wines were made by Daniel Bingham and Marissa Bingham Dodson. The current head winemaker for Bingham Family Vineyards is Sam Jennings along with Marissa Bingham Dodson, and the next red wines will be ones made by them.
Noting there were two Tempranillos in the flight, the 2020 Reserve Tempranillo are from the Reserve wines with the black label. When one does a tasting in the reserve tasting room, the Reserve wines are the ones that are served there.
When you’re traveling US 290 in the Hill Country, you have a reason to stop by Bingham Family Vineyards in Hye.