Siboney, yo te quiero, yo me muero, por tu amor….”
The words of that global love song were penned in 1928 by Ernesto Lecuona and made famous by the author’s orchestral arrangement and, later, by Edie Gorme y Los Panchos. Today, at Siboney Cellars, Miguel Lecuona and wife Barbara pay homage to his great uncle and his roots with Cuban sabor and fine wines at the new entry along with 290 wine corridor.
“In 2018, we took my father’s ashes back to Cuba where he wanted them spread,” Miguel said. “We were at the formative stages with Barbara’s early wines in the barrels, so we began to talk about Siboney and what it meant for us. That trip brought a lot together.”
The song Siboney was written in 1928. “It was written at a time when my great uncle was out of the country. It’s a Cuban love song of two meanings — one is man loves a woman, but also that ‘Siboney’ is a universal name for Cuba. But it’s also the original name of the indians that were on the island. There’s even a village called Siboney near Santiago on the south side of Cuba, so there are many meanings.”
Miguel said the winery gets traffic from the busy highway from Cubans who see the sign and are curious about the connection. “They come in and they’re skeptical, and then we talk to them and they open up and they all have amazing stories,” Miguel said.
Miguel and Barbara, along with partners Bill and Mary Ann Waldrip, offer Cubano sandwiches, Cuban coffee, and even Siboney branded cigars to bring a bit of the island nation’s staples to the Hill Country. They also feature Cuban-rooted artists in their gallery and offer tropical music regularly. Miguel even has begun a monthly pig roast which is a hit with customers craving Cuban-style pork.
Barbara crafts a line of Texas Reds with High Plains grapes, a Port-style dessert wine, a top-notch Albariño, a sparkling rosé, a delicious Malbec, and hearty Cabernets and Merlots. Every bottle is 100% Texas grown and produced.
Barbara began experimenting with Rhône varietals, then venturing into Bordeaux varietals. “That’s kind of where my heart is. I love Bordeaux and I love those wines. I think everything I do is in that vein, and they’ve become my favorites — Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec…. Miguel says I’m sad we’re not a brewery and I can’t do these experiments every year,” Barbara said. “Wine, to me, is a sense of place.”
Barbara has two clones of Merlot on the vine — French and Italian clones which she is tending with knowledge gained from the Texas Tech University Fredericksburg-based enology and viticulture courses. While the on-site vineyard with French and Italian clone Merlots is still in the works, the couple may plant additional acreage and work toward estate wines. “Short of having a baby, planting a vineyard is the most optimistic thing you can do in life,” quips the Siboney website.
The site is stunning as the golden-hour light sets on the limestone and live oaks and terraced vineyard. A terrace and additional club member terrace sport quintessentially Hill Country views. “We looked at half a dozen properties up and down 290 and this one really caught our eye,” Miguel said. “There is a small homeownership subdivision on land dating back to 1890 and the Marshall family. We think the front acreage was a hayfield.” In February, Siboney Cellars will mark its third year. While the pandemic delayed the opening, the owners began holding picnics under an oak grove near the construction site.
The couple also has an interesting origin story. Miguel’s father was born in Havana, Cuba, and came to the U.S. on a gymnastics scholarship after representing the island nation in the Olympics in the pre-Castro days. Miguel’s father learned English, studied and received a Ph.D., then moved and raised his family in Laredo, where young Miguel spent much of his childhood.
Barbara hails from Pennsylvania. The couple met at The Wine School of Philadelphia. Where she is the vintner and enologist, Miguel also studied at the master’s level. An accomplished photographer, Miguel learned that part of the marketing while working as a wine journalist.
”We both took an introductory tastings course under Keith Wallace, learning the regions, and became friends and stayed in touch, even though we were long-distance with him in Texas,” Barbara said.
Siboney Cellars are part of a small-but-mighty quality wine movement in western Blanco County, which includes William and Chris, Calais Wines, Ron Yates Winery, Lost Draw, and many more.
The cigars on site are Siboney cigars, not Miguel’s label, but ones that originated in Cuba. “Like a lot of things, once the revolution came, it went away, but it was brought back by Cubans in exile in Nicaragua. A.J. Fernandez makes our cigars and uses Cuban seed and Cuban farmers. We asked permission to sell those and now we have a distributors and importer’s license.
“It was interesting to visit Cuba for the cigars, but when your winemaker wife visits a tobacco-growing region it’s a completely different experience,” Miguel said. “They’re talking fermentation, aging, sorting, all the same things that she talks about with vineyards.”
”It gave me a new respect for cigars,” Barbara said with a grin.
Miguel summed up the mix of international, national, and state connections that take place at the winery. ”Wine brings people together. And there is no Hill Country winery that is better evidence of that.”
Siboney Cellars
3427 US 290, Johnson City
(830) 998-2626
siboneycellars.com