ABOUT US
We started with a dream, a simple plan to produce premium wine grapes for the growing Texas Wine industry. This area we call home produces some of the most exceptional fruit in the Texas High Plains AVA. We are proud of the legacy we’ve begun, and to call this wine our own; we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Hello, we are Rowdy and Tameisha Bolen and we are the owners of Bolen Vineyards in Smyer, Texas! We planted our first vines in 2010 with very little knowledge about viticulture and soon thereafter, we took off like a bronc rider leaving the chute!!
We planted 1 acre of Merlot in 2010 and added another in 2011. A dear friend of ours, Bobby Cox, learned of our plans to grow winegrapes in Smyer and gave us some great advice. We originally wanted to grow Cabernet Sauvignon and instead pushed us to grow Merlot because it was the “training wheels of grapes,” as he described it. Turned out, his advice was spot on.
In 2012, we added 2 acres of Malbec therefore doubling our acreage to 4. During this time, Tameisha (Meisha) began taking the Texas Tech Viticulture Certificate Class and expanded our knowledge of grape growing. We took a few years off to help co-start a winery in Levelland then planted Mourvedre in 2018 and Cinsault and Tannat in 2019. We’re over 5 acres now and have plans to add more in the future.
About Us: We are agriculture minded people who both grew up in agriculture families. Rowdy’s family raised sheep and goats on their family ranches in West Texas and the Hill Country. Tameisha’s family lived on several cow-calf ranches and grew up riding horses and working cows with her dad, mom, sister and brother in New Mexico. Together, Rowdy and Tameisha wanted to have their kids grow up with an agriculture background. Their three kids, Alyssa, Reese and Gatlin, spend weekends working the vines with Rowdy and Tameisha. In 2018, the Bolen Family planted 1/3 acre of Mourvedre for Reese for her FFA Record Book Project. In 2019, they added additional Mourvedre vines and two rows of Cinsault. Together, the two grape varieties are should produce a beautiful field blend of Rose wine for Reese’s FFA project.