We’ll drink to that!

Texas Hill Country harvests No. 3 ranking among American wine regions

Limestone Terrace Winery Wimberley Hill Country

The Hill Country boasts dozens of wineries, including Limestone Terrace Vineyard in Wimberley.

Sorry, Napa Valley. Apologies, Sonoma Valley. The Hill Country crushes both of those heavily hyped California destinations (like a grape) in a new ranking of the best wine regions.

The Hill Country lands at No. 3 in the 2021 USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice awards for the top 10 wine regions. Nine U.S. regions and one region in Mexico made the list, with Washington state’s Walla Walla Valley earning the No. 1 spot. Neither Napa Valley nor Sonoma Valley appears in the top 10.

A panel of experts teamed up with10Best editors to pick the initial nominees. Online voters determined the 10 winners.

“The Hill Country is such a special place to us all, and we are thrilled to share it with the world, thanks to all of the Texas wine lovers who voted for the region this year,” says January Wiese, executive director of Texas Hill Country Wineries, a nonprofit trade group.

About 1 million people visit the Hill Country’s 50-plus wineries each year. Spanning more than 9 million acres, the Hill Country is the country’s third-largest winemaking region, producing types of wine such as viognier, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chenin blanc, aglianico, sangiovese, and mourvèdre.

The 10Best nod isn’t the only accolade the Hill Country has harvested recently. For instance, Travel + Leisure magazine named the Hill Country one of the country’s 50 best places to visit in 2021.

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Turkey Day news

San Antonio eats up top-10 rank on list of best cities for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving pumpkin pie at Kona Grill in San Antonio

Photo courtesy of Kona Grill

San Antonio is one of the best place to celebrate Thanksgiving in Texas in 2024.

San Antonio is sitting at the head of the table as one of the best places in the country to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, a new study has revealed.

San Antonio ranked No. 7 out of 100 of the largest U.S. cities in WalletHub's annual "Best Places to Go for Thanksgiving" report, published November 12. The city made a big leap over its 2023 ranking as No. 14, and remains the second highest-ranked city in Texas.

The study analyzed each city based on 18 metrics to determine the best places for Thanksgiving, such as the number of pumpkin patches per capita, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, the number of volunteer opportunities, the average weather forecast, and more. The metrics were then organized into five overall categories to determine the rankings.

The categories that San Antonio ranked the highest in were the average weather forecast during the holiday period (No. 2), and affordability (No. 11), while the lowest-ranked category was for safety and accessibility (No. 90). Other categories that determined San Antonio's overall ranking were the number of celebrations and traditions (No. 14), and a "giving thanks" rank (No. 75).

"The best cities for celebrating Thanksgiving all have an abundance of high-quality restaurants and places to buy festive decorations, and their residents get very excited for the holiday based on their Google search history," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

By Thanksgiving on November 28, San Antonio will be fully decked for the December holidays. San Antonians who will have extended family in town during Thanksgiving weekend can take in of all the marvelous Christmas lights brightening the city. The home of the Alamo certainly goes all out for the most wonderful time of year.

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas ranked two spots above San Antonio as the fifth best city for Thanksgiving. Houston ranked No. 23, while Austin only came in at No. 39.

San Diego, California (No. 1) topped the overall list of best places to go for Thanksgiving this year, followed by its Golden State neighbors San Francisco (No. 3) and San Jose (No. 4). Atlanta, Georgia (No. 2) rounds out the top five.

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