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Texas
Agriculture Archive
October 3, 2003
'Grape' Potential
High value crop making headway in the
Lone Star State...
By Lana Robinson
Field Editor
Grape growing in Texas is not for everyone. Startup costs are high, particularly for those processing the grapes in their own wineries, and high-quality grapes require lots of attention. Yet, a number of committed vintners have taken what began as a small-scale "boutique" industry a quarter of a century ago and have expanded it into a true agricultural enterprise in the Lone Star State.
"It's a tough crop to grow to the high standards you need for wine quality," notes Ed Hellman, Extension viticulture specialist stationed in Lubbock. "It takes a lot of intensive management, but it's not only a high value crop, but also a value-added crop. That means you keep more revenue in the state. It's a big multiplier, that vineyard or winery, even before the tourism aspect, which is significant. Many people today look for local wineries, and how they can plug that into their travel plans."
Hellman has a 75 percent Extension appointment at Texas A&M and a 25 percent research appointment with Texas Tech University. He works closely with growers and viticulturists through on-site visitations, conducts applied research to help identify and solve grape production problems, and helps new and veteran growers with vineyard establishment and management. His Texas Tech research appointment and Texas A&M Extension appointment is designed to better serve grape growers across the state.
"My ultimate goal is to help farmers grow wine grapes profitably, and to help Texas reach its full potential as a major player in the U.S. wine industry," Hellman says. "I work closely with the Texas wine industry to identify constraints to their growth and prosperity—so we can develop and implement educational and research programs to overcome those constraints."
Viticultural regions
Texas encompasses seven American Viticultural Areas, but the large commercial vineyards are in two areas in West Texas—the Texas High Plains west of Lubbock and in the Trans-Peco Escondido Valley near Fort Stockton. Lower land costs, low humidity and lower disease pressure make these western regions favorable for growing grapes. Too, the higher elevations and soils are ideally suited to European varietal grapes. The Texas High Plains region receives most of its annual rainfall of 18 to 19 inches in May, June and July. Bud break is in April and harvest and crush begins in late July or early August and ends by mid-September.
Roughly 80 percent of the grape varieties found in the United States grow in Texas. In fact, more naturally present grape species are found in the Lone Star State than anywhere else in the world. Veteran grape varieties have done well in all regions of Texas except the Coastal Plains area.
"The exciting thing is that we're seeing a lot of experimentation with varieties adapted to a hotter climate," says Hellman. "We're seeing a number of vineyards growing varieties from the Rhone region of France, which are often blended with other grapes. Those varieties are better adapted to heat. There is a lot of potential there. We've got people also looking at Spanish and Portuguese varieties, which are traditional with Port-style wines, and we have some Italian wines."
Although the Texas Agricultural Statistics Service doesn't release harvest statistics until the end of January for the 2003 crop year, Hellman describes the 2003 growing season as a "mixed bag."
"The Hill Country was hit by a late frost that really reduced the crop severely. North Texas escaped the frost much better, as did West Texas. There were some localized areas of frost injury, but overall, North and West Texas did pretty good," he reports. "The quality was very good. It was a good season for ripening, and there was not a lot of disease problems, particularly in West Texas."
Texas wine grape growers operate more than 210 commercial vineyards on a total of approximately 3,000 acres, with close to 50 wineries scattered around the state.
"Independent vineyards in West Texas sell grapes all over the state. Most wineries have relationships with independent growers," he says.
Texas wine growers also routinely sell grapes to some Oklahoma wineries, and perhaps, a few in New Mexico, Hellman adds.
Pierce's Disease research
Hellman also serves on an interdisciplinary Extension-research-industry team that focuses on controlling and managing Pierce's Disease—a debilitating and potentially fatal insect-borne bacterial disease that is spreading westward with Texas grape production.
"Pierce's Disease has always been with us and always will be. It's a native disease and the insects that move it around are native insects. We'll always deal with it. One of the factors that caused the outbreak seven or eight years ago was the series of consecutive winters that were warmer than usual," he recalls.
So far, only the West Texas crop has escaped problems with Pierce's Disease.
"We think that's because we have colder winters," he says.
Texas wine history
Actually, wine has made a comeback in Texas. Until Prohibition, Texas was a leader in North American viticulture. Franciscan padres planted the first vinifera (wine grapes) in 1662 in the El Paso area. By the early 1900s, Texas had over 20 commercial wineries, but Prohibition forced them all to close. It wasn't until the late 1970s that Texas experienced a viticultural renaissance. Today, Texas is the fifth largest wine-producing state in the nation, providing 1,800 jobs for Texans. Overall, Texans spend more than $500 million on wine a year. Current production is valued at $38.4 million.
Some Texas wineries offer wines in a particular category, but the majority of the wineries produce numerous wines. The largest concentration is in the Texas Hill Country, north and west of Austin and San Antonio. There are also a number of small wineries around Dallas and Fort Worth, and a few scattered wineries have emerged in East Texas and the Gulf Coast, but these areas are really too humid and rainy to produce a world-class or even nationally-ranked wine.
Driftwood Vineyards (pictured on cover), perhaps the state's newest winery, has opened a bed and breakfast and a restaurant, which serves meals on weekends, to provide their vineyard with additional income. This is not uncommon, as a number of the vineyards/wineries are finding that nature tourism is drawing city residents to the country for relaxed weekends and longer vacations. In 1998, owners Gary, Kathy and Laura Elliott planted eight grape varieties on 18 acres of an 880-acre ranch Kathy's father bought in 1951.
"We are located in a dry area, so for the first few years we sold all of our grapes to other wineries in the Hill Country," Gary Elliott notes. "After the passage of House Bill 892 in 2001, permitting wineries in dry areas to sell their wine at the winery, we began working on our winery. We received our winery licenses in July of 2002 and did our first commercial grape crush with the August 2002 harvest. Our first commercial wine was bottled in February 2003 and we opened the winery to the public on March 1 of this year. Our first year's production totaled about 1,200 cases, which included five different wines."
Driftwood Vineyards (www.drift woodvineyards.com) bands together with area wineries as members of the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail for marketing purposes. Other designated wine trails in the state, named after a significant geological or geographical feature, include: Balcones Trail, Brazos Trail, Enchanted Trail, Highland Trail and Palo Duro Trail. A sixth trail—the Munson Trail in north eastern Texas—pays tribute to Texan T.V. Munson, whose viticultural work saved the French wine industry when France's vineyards were devastated by phylloxera. Munson's work continues at Grayson County College in Denison. Each trail links up to six wineries together for a fun weekend trip, reflecting the diverse culture and geography of the Lone Star state.
'Texas Wine Month'
Texas vineyards piggy-back on the industry's appeal by holding harvest festivals and events and celebrating Texas Wine Month in October. This month, Texas vintners and wine-makers are hosting a variety of events to acquaint consumers with quality, estate bottled wines. Designed to educate, market and publicize the bounty of Texas wines, the Texas Wine Tour is a 31-day event spotlighting Texas' homegrown wines in several exciting venues. Grand tasting events at Central Markets in Houston, Austin, and Fort Worth (Oct. 14, 7 and 28, respectively) are planned. Special menus in some of the state's top restaurants will offer Texas wines by the glass and bottle (complete list of participating restaurants can be found on the Festival's website at www.texas wineandfood.org). More than 20 Texas wineries will be represented in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and even New York City.
Hellman says he knew of at least a half dozen people who had put plans to build wineries on hold until the Sept. 13 ballot, to see if Proposition 11 passed.
Proposition 11 allows the state legislature to authorize wineries to make, sell and dispense wine in any area of the state, even in dry counties where half of the state's wineries are located.
"Now those folks will continue with their plans. They probably would not have done so had the vote gone the other way. I expect to see continued growth, with as many as five new wineries a year. It's exciting," says Hellman.
