Pearland winery owner hosts annual festival Owner Jimmy Aranda buys land in Pearland, plans to relocate business

Jimmy Aranda, sponsor of an annual wine festival in Pearland, plans to relocate his Dionisio Winery to the city.Jimmy Aranda, sponsor of an annual wine festival in Pearland, plans to relocate his Dionisio Winery to the city. less Jimmy Aranda, sponsor of an annual wine festival in Pearland, plans to relocate his Dionisio Winery to the city.Jimmy Aranda, sponsor of an annual wine festival in Pearland, plans to relocate his Dionisio ... more Photo: Pin Lim, Freelance Photo: Pin Lim, Freelance Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Pearland winery owner hosts annual festival 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

A downtown Houston winery is bringing a food-and-wine festival to Pearland for the fourth year this month. The winery's owner, Jimmy Aranda, has plans to bring much more to the city.

Aranda has purchased property in Pearland and hopes to relocate Dionisio Winery from 2110 Jefferson St. in Houston to Pearland by next spring. The winery will be off McHard and Stone roads and will include a tasting room and restaurant.

The winery offers a variety of red and fruit wines such as its green apple Riesling and pomegranate zinfandel. To make the fruit wines, Aranda ferments grapes and infuses them with Texas fruits.

Dionisio Winery recently received silver and bronze medals for its wines during the 2015 Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo.

Running the winery in Pearland has been Aranda's goal since he created Dionisio Winery in the garage of his Pearland home 4½ years ago. City regulations prevented him from opening the winery in Pearland, but he said regulations recently changed that allow him to relocate to his hometown. He has lived in the city for more than eight years.

Aranda created Pearland's annual Wine and Food Festival in 2011 as a means to introduce his wines to the community and to provide a sampling of other Texas wines.

"I invited other wineries because I want people to gain a taste for Texas wines, not just my wines," Aranda said. "Plus, I know almost all of the wineries in Texas. We all pretty much work with each other at different festivals around Texas."

More Information Want to go? What: Fourth annual Wine and Food Festival When: noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 29. Participants must be at least 21 years old. Where: Pearland Town Center Pavilion, 11200 W. Broadway, Pearland Cost: Admission ticket packages start at $30 and include wine-tasting tickets and other goodies such as an event T-shirt or commemorative wine glasses. Information: www.dionisiowinery.com

At last year's festival, each participating winery owner made $6,000 to $8,000 during the event, he said.

"Some people say that they are my competition, but to me, we are all in the same field," Aranda said. "Even though we may use some similar ingredients, it always comes out different in the end."

This year's festival will be from noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Pearland Town Center Pavilion, 11200 W. Broadway St. Red, white and fruit wines from more than 10 Texas wineries will be featured alongside local food vendors. The event is open to anyone age 21 and older, and it will be held rain or shine, Aranda said.

Wine tasting tickets will be available at the festival. Wine prices start at $14 a bottle.

Discounted wine-tasting ticket packages may be purchased via links to event sites EventBrite, LivingSocial and Groupon found on the home page of the winery's website at www.dionisiowinery.com. Ticket packages start at $30 and come with wine-tasting tickets and other goodies such as an event T-shirt or commemorative wine glasses.

Wineries will be spread out around the grounds of the Pearland Town Center's pavilion area along with food vendors. Guests will be invited to exchange their tickets to taste wines being showcased.

"If they taste wine that they'd like to purchase, guests can purchase by the glass or the bottle," Aranda said.

A VIP section also will be set up. For an additional fee, guests can gain access to the enclosed area where guests may pair different types of cheese and meats with their wines.

Several restaurant sponsors will sell food during the festival. Aranda said he limited one restaurant per industry to sell food at the festival, which typically includes Italian food and barbecue.

A live band, the Houston-based Thermal Fusion, will perform a variety of music including alternative and classic rock, dance, disco, '80s pop, country and Spanish rock.

Aranda said guests might be surprised at the quality of the Texas wines they will find during the festival.

"Believe it or not, Texas is among the fastest-growing wine producers in the United States now," he said. "It is steadily growing."

The state ranks fifth in the United States in wine production, according to the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association, a nonprofit advocacy group of which Aranda is a member. According to the association, more than 275 commercial wineries are in Texas. In 2012, according to the most recent data available, the Texas wine industry produced more than 3 million gallons of wine and contributes $1.8 billion to the state's economy.

"The wine industry in Texas is growing," said Debbie Reynolds, executive director of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association.

She said the number of wineries in Texas has doubled since 2005 when the association first started studying the industry's economic impact. She said educational institutions such as Texas Tech, Grayson College and Texas A&M are a part of the influx of grape growers and wine makers because they offer programs that are churning out a large pool of professionals who can begin their own wineries.

The association's website features approximately 20 different varieties of Texas wines. Reynolds said she expects there are more varieties produced by Texas wineries than what their membership provides.

Events like the Pearland Wine and Food Festival by Dionisio Winery, Reynolds said, are held all across the state and allow people to experience different wines in one location.

"Whether it is one winery or, as in the case of Grape Fest held every year in Grapevine, Texas, over 50 Texas wineries in one festival, people can open their awareness of wines and taste things they may not be able to any other way," she said.

There currently are not a lot of grocery or package stores stocking Texas wines in large supply, Reynolds said. Getting into large retailers is expensive for small wineries that do not have the opportunity to sell anything except from their tasting rooms. Festivals, Reynolds said, allow them to grow their customer base by introducing guests to new varietals.

"We are probably the only state that does blanc du bois like we do," she added. "We make it anywhere from a very dry white wine to a simi-sweet or sweet white wine."