Bending Branch Winery
Souzão has dark flesh as well as dark skin, it is normally grown in Portugal to colour port, and this winery was the first in Texas to plant it.1
Why go
Dr. Robert W. Young started the winery in 2009 and it now pours four brands out of one room in Comfort: Bending Branch, Ursa Vineyards, and the 1840 and ChickenDuck bourbons.4 The reds are the reason to make the drive. The estate Souzão from Lost Pirogue Vineyard is the rarity, and the Newsom Vineyards cabernet is the one that argues Texas can do a restrained cab at 13.4 percent.1 Tannat is the house grape, and one bottling finishes in ChickenDuck bourbon barrels, which is what happens when a winery owns a distillery.4
Order this / avoid
- The Estate Souzão, Lost Pirogue Vineyard. VinePair:
an inky-dark wine that's one of the more unusual Texas reds,
concentrated blackberry withtouches of powdered cinnamon, flint, and espresso.
The writer drank it with grilled pork chops seasoned with adjika.1 - The Cabernet Sauvignon, Newsom Vineyards, from the High Plains:
reminiscent of a leaner Napa or Sonoma Cab, with refreshing acidity, well-integrated oak, and moderate alcohol.
1 - The Tannat finished in ChickenDuck bourbon barrels, which took a double gold at the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition per the winery's own page.4
- Avoid: Tuesday and Wednesday. The estate tasting room runs Thursday to Monday.2
What locals & experts say
- VinePair, on the Souzão:
Souzão is used to make port, and there's a touch of the grapey quality here that you find in the fortified wine.
No byline extracted from the page, so none is asserted.1 - The same piece on the planting:
Bending Branch Winery, for example, was the first in Texas to plant Souzão.
1 - Medals, from the winery's own front page: double gold and Texas Reserve Class Champion at the 2026 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and a double gold at the 2025 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. These are competition results on bottles, and the awarding bodies' own rosters were not read.4
Good to know
- Hours: the estate tasting room runs Thursday to Monday. Call 830-995-2948 to book a wine or bourbon tasting.2
- Getting there: 142 Lindner Branch Trail in Comfort, Kendall County. This is not a Fredericksburg stop: it sits roughly an hour southwest of the US-290 wine corridor and wants its own drive.2
- One room, four labels: the wine and the bourbon are poured in the same place.4
Verdict
could-visit — Souzão is what makes the drive to Comfort worth it. Teinturier grapes carry dark flesh as well as dark skin, Portugal grows this one to colour port, and Bending Branch planted it in Texas before anybody else did. VinePair reads the 2020 Estate bottling from Lost Pirogue Vineyard as inky and concentrated, blackberry with cinnamon, flint and espresso, and pairs it with grilled pork chops, which is a real note on a real oddity. Ask for the Newsom Vineyards cabernet alongside it, leaner than a Napa cab at 13.4 percent with the oak kept in check. Dr. Robert Young founded the place in 2009 and it now pours four brands, two of them bourbon, from one room. Comfort is the catch: it sits in Kendall County, an hour southwest of the 290 strip, so it is a separate drive rather than a stop on the wine day.