San Antonio rolls out the “red” carpet: Valero Texas Open, Oaks Course, TPC San Antonio, April 2-April 5, 2026
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San Antonio has too many chain steak houses to count and appears to be crawling with wine bars. That’s the good news. The bad news is that from a wine perspective the City seems to suffer from a case of the “blands,” at least in terms of what’s visible online. Don’t know why, it seems like it could support something better. The choices below at least give you a fighting chance.
Signature at the La Cantera Resort and Spa has a killer list organized by varietal and stacked in ascending order of price, which makes it easy to scan based on your budget. This means all Pinot Noir, appears in one section, but any confusion is reduced by generous annotations. You still have to know that Savigny is in Burgundy, for example, but it’s not that big a deal. It’s deep in chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet, with lots of surprises, including a great chenin blanc selection. Wine List
High Street Wine Co carries an outstanding carefully curated selection ranging from off-the-beaten path varietals at excellent prices up to big-time trophy wines. As a wine bar plus retail concept, it offers the ability to drink on premise or take out. Relaxed, friendly, and knowledgeable staff are a difference maker. There are a few exceptional deals if you know where to look. Wine List
Biga has a balanced list with many good options. It’s unaccountably high-priced on certain wines, especially in the limited French and Italian reds, but reasonable enough elsewhere, so be selective. Wine List
Maverick is billed as a “Texas Brasserie” and offers a small but good cross-section of French-inspired dishes. The well-priced wine list has a little bit of everything including relative varietal rarities like jacqeure and schiava. I detect a pulse. NOTE: the wine list has been removed from online viewing, so proceed with caution. I spent maybe a half hour clicking through the stack o’ steak houses and regardless of the fact that some have won Wine Spectator Awards, none post a list online. Someone should tell them that’s not the way to differentiate among people for whom wine is also a priority.
Retail in SA is dominated by the local Texas chain Spec’s, with at least nine locations and seemingly an endless supply of good wine. I can’t believe they have all these wines ready on the shelf at every location, so you might want to scout online and call your chosen location to make sure. Be sure to filter for “Explore All Wines” and location.
