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Siboney Cellars announces new Texas Hill Country winery site, partnership and expansion plans.

Have you heard the news? Siboney Cellars is coming to Wine Road 290 in the Texas Hill Country!

Yesterday, we announced a new partnership and the acquisition of a 52 acre parcel of land ideally suited for a full Texas Hill Country winery, production facility, tasting room and vineyards. The site is beautiful — a classic Hill Country property featuring a limestone plateau, rolling hills, heritage oaks, a fertile field, stepped terraces suitable for vineyard planting, and over 100 feet of elevation changes, rising to a plateau of 1500 feet.

The new home for Siboney Cellars Is the culmination of a long held vision, made possible by a new partnership we are very blessed to have, and a search that criss-crossed the Hill Country. It is ideally situated for our plans:

Location – With frontage directly on Wine Road 290, adjacent to Lewis Wines, the new home for Siboney Cellars is situated between Hye and Johnson City, continuing the development of the eastern corridor of WR290. We look forward to taking our place among the neighboring wineries in the area and participating as a 100% Texas house.

Vineyards – this site holds a promise for true Texas Terroir – a term we believe in when it is applied to an appellation or specific location. With limestone plateaus, north-facing terraces, and a soil structure that may prove favorable for vineyard growth, we are excited about the potential of estate wines.

Views – the limestone plateau rises 100 feet above the entry point on 290, and affords commanding views. We have many plans to share these views with you!

And the new partnership? We are delighted to introduce the Waldrips to the Texas Wine community, and over the next few weeks we will do exactly that. We met Bill and Mary Anne Waldrip at a wine writer’s event hosted at Boot Ranch in 2015 – one of many industry tours and events we have attended together. Mary Anne poured our first wine – the 2017 Coral Rosé, at the Texas Wine Revolution last year. And together, we have unlocked a mutual passion for creating a wonderful winery in the Hill Country. We can’t wait for you to meet them!

Needless to say, Barbara and I are over the moon! We just returned from our first 2019 trip to the High Plains and are excited about the this year’s vintage potential. With our collaboration at Hawk’s Shadow Winery continuing through 2019 and into 2020, the new partnership, and the new location coming to WR290, we can bring our vision into focus, put more quality grapes into Barbara’s capable hands, and put more Siboney wine into your own cellar. And as always, There’s a million things we haven’t done. Just you wait!! ~MRL

Siboney Cellars – The inspiration Behind the Name

Siboney Cellars takes its name from a personal metaphor that speaks to the journey of the owners, and is embodied in several meanings of the word, Siboney (See-Bo-NAY)

  • Siboney is a beautiful old Cuban song written in 1929 by Ernesto Lecuona.  A true child prodigy and prolific songwriter, Lecuona composed many classical pieces, theatrical plays, and ground-breaking Afro-Cuban songs.  Well known in Cuba, Latin America and the USA, nominated for an Academy Award, and inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, his musical career spanned 5 decades before his passing in 1963 in the Canary Islands.
  • Siboney  was adopted in Cuba as a cross-over song with great popular appeal (well before Fidel Castro), to the point where it became an unofficial national anthem — the song is played by the television network at the end of broadcast each night.  
  • Siboney has been recorded in dozens of arrangements over the decades, and featured by artists including Placido Domingo and Bing Crosby, and more contemporary to Texas, The Mavericks (who one day we hope to meet).  Listen to the original classical version by Ernesto Lecuona, the flawless interpretation by virtuoso Thomas Tirino, and several by the Buena Vista Social Club. 
  • Lyrically, in English, Siboney is nothing more than a catchy pop tune evoking the rhythms of a Havana night club, crooned by Bing Crosby.  The original Spanish lyrics, however, written by Lecuona, are a different matter.  The Canto Siboney speaks of a man calling to his one eternal love, without whom he cannot live.  The one who he asks to come to him, the treasure in his heart valued beyond all.  That even in the murmuring of the palm trees in the breeze, he wishes to be thought of by his one true love.  Entreating for his love to hear his voice, his clarion call, his voice of crystal, and not to lose this calling amid the many distractions of life, he loves her, and without her love, he will die.  This, without doubt, is passion defined. Perhaps in a future post we will showcase the lyrics in Spanish, as we are seeking permission to feature a version sung in Spanish that is particularly haunting in its rendition.  
  • This life journey — to discover, recognize and follow the clarion call – to hear life’s passions – and not to lose track of the fragility of this song in the midst of life’s chaos – this is the passion that brought the owners together 10 years ago.  And it happened on a trip in Bordeaux.  Since that moment, Barbara and Miguel have endeavored to stay in touch with this calling. 
  • Siboney Cellars is the embodiment of this journey.  Siboney Cellars is a life’s passion. Pursued, realized, savored.

The composer of Siboney, Ernesto Lecuona, is Miguel’s great uncle.  

Would you like to hear Siboney as it was originally composed for solo piano?  We have permission from BIS recording artist Thomas Tirino to feature his virtuoso recording of Canto Siboney here, and it is the only one we know of that faithfully replicates the version Ernesto recorded in 1954 for RCA, for there is no sheet music of this rendition. Mr. Tirino executed this recording through his own efforts by ear, in 1995.  Bravo Thomas, thank you for allowing us to feature you!