American Viticultural Area · TX
Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country is a federally-designated American Viticultural Area in TX, established in 1991. The map below shows its official TTB boundary alongside nearby AVAs.
The Texas Hill Country boundary is highlighted. Nearby AVAs are rendered in gray — click any of them to view that AVA's page.
At a glance
Established
1991
State
TX
Climate
Hot continental
Signature varietals
Boundary recorded in 27 CFR Part 9 · Source: TTB
About the Texas Hill Country AVA
Texas Hill Country, designated 1991, is one of the largest AVAs in the United States — over 9 million acres across the central Texas plateau west of Austin and north of San Antonio. The climate is hot continental: very hot summers, cold-snap-prone winters, and erratic rainfall. The combination makes growing European vinifera unusually difficult, and the region's identity has shifted over the past two decades from Bordeaux varieties (which struggle in the heat) toward Mediterranean and Iberian grapes.
Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Mourvèdre, Viognier, and Albariño dominate the modern Hill Country plantings. Two smaller sub-AVAs nest inside — Bell Mountain and Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country. Much of the fruit served by Hill Country tasting rooms is actually grown in the Texas High Plains AVA in the Panhandle, where the higher elevation and more reliable climate produce better fruit; Hill Country has become known as the state's tasting-room and tourism corridor.