Bolen Vineyards

Rowdy and Tameisha Bolen put farming first at Bolen Vineyards in Smyer, Texas, west of Lubbock in the Texas High Plains American Viticultural Area (AVA). Their vineyard story begins with one acre of Merlot in 2010 and advice from grape grower Bobby Cox: start with Merlot, the “training wheels of grapes,” rather than Cabernet Sauvignon. Today, the vineyard grows Merlot, Malbec, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Tannat, supporting a small-production family winery.

The family’s agricultural roots come into sharpest focus through Reese Bolen’s FFA vineyard project. Her 2021 Teenage Wasteland Malbec rosé release amounts to just 18 cases—a graduation-year wine made possible by surviving Malbec fruit after hail, herbicide drift and a severe freeze derail plans for a Mourvèdre-Cinsault rosé. It gives the family’s grape-growing work a more concrete meaning than any farm-to-glass slogan.

Visits take some planning: Bolen Vineyards opens one day per month, rather than operating as a daily tasting-room stop. At 312 North State Road 168, the winery makes sense as a date-specific addition to a Lubbock-area wine trip, not a spontaneous detour. Confirming the next opening before the drive is essential.