United States of Wine

Kiepersol – Texas Azuca Artize – Sweet Red Wine

Purchased: N/A – Gifted

We had a guest taster this week who brought us a red wine from her hometown of Tyler, Texas! Kiepersol is a wine and food destination in East Texas (also known as the Piney Woods) and its winery was recently named “Top Texas Winery 2024” at the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition.

But we didn’t know that information before the Thanksgiving tasting of a bottle of their Texas Azuca Artize Sweet Red Wine. So this is a true review of what we thought of this wine, following a feast of turkey and two forms of potatoes.

The initial scent of the wine as we poured it into the glass was alcohol with a hint of a red berry fruit. We hoped that with time, the scent palate would open up more. First sips offered a noticeable lack of tannins and bitterness, which was pleasant after our heavy meal.

Even though this was a “sweet” red wine, it was not overwhelmingly sweet like a mass-produced American moscato. Thought it was significantly sweeter than a pinot noir, it wasn’t so sweet that it it was all one could taste. While I’m not a fan of sweet wines, I found the Texas Azuca Artize very tolerable.

The wine was a rusty bloody color that we decided to call “cran-orange.” As the wine opened up after being exposed to air, it started to take a little more like an alcoholic grape juice, a “cran-grape taste,” if you will. But with that, we started to wonder if the red berry taste we first experienced but couldn’t identify was, in fact, cranberry.

After each sip there was a sensation of dryness on my tongue which I usually associate with oak, and the longer the wine sat, the more the expression of oak and red fruit syrup came through. We did a quick test of a splash of cola into wine glass, a classic kalimotxo, and it suddenly tasted like a gas station slushie that equally mixed the wild cherry and cola flavors. And for my senses, that was not a bad thing, as that’s exactly how I love my slushies!

Would I recommend Kiepersol’s Texas Azuca Artize? I would! The sweetness of this wine allows for snacking on salty snacks, like nuts or cheese, and more as a pre- or after-dinner wine. And for those who like intolerable sweet red wines, this would be a good next step in the direction of a real wine. But if you’re looking for a dinner wine that would go well with a full meal, I’d pass on this one.

Score: 7.5/10