Although October is the official wine month in Texas, recent actions by the state legislature and the US Supreme Court have given the winemaking industry reason to think May is pretty special.
The Supreme Court decision allows wineries to ship directly to consumers anywhere in the country. Previously, several states, including Texas, had prohibitions against interstate sales to individual customers.
Governor Perry’s signature on SB 877 on May 9th authorized direct shipments of wine to consumers throughout the state. Prior to the passage of that law, direct sales to consumers were only permitted in “wet” areas. The new law is expected to give Texas winemakers a boost in their opportunities for economic advancement.
Other anticipated results in Texas of these new laws include the expansion of wine markets across the US, increase in tourism to rural areas that showcase winemaking, and enhancement of opportunities to compete with the wine industries of other states, principally California, Washington, Oregon, and New York. On the other hand, winemakers from other states now have much more ready access to Texas customers as well.
Winemaking in Texas, of course, is not a new phenomenon. Although California is the largest US wine producer and certainly gets the plum of publicity in that industry, Texans were growing grapes and making wine long before the West Coast got into the business.
In the last part of the 17th century, when Franciscans established a mission near El Paso, they transplanted grapevines they had brought from Mexican missions. It would be another century before wine grapes were introduced to California.
The cultivation of grapes was little known or appreciated by the early Anglo settlers in Texas, but with the influx of Europeans in the mid-19th century, the industry got a strong foothold. Gradually some 300 varieties of grapes suited for the Texas environment were developed, many of them highly appropriate for winemaking. Texas is sometimes called the “grape paradise of the world” as more than 50% of the known grape species call the Lone Star State home.
In the 1970s, approximately 3,000 acres in Texas had become vineyards, and by the mid-1990s, Texas was producing over a million gallons of wine a year and had become the nation’s 5th-largest wine producing state. That volume has continued to increase. Estimates of last year’s production totaled 1.7 million gallons.
Over the past couple of years, wineries in Texas have increased dramatically, growing from about 55 to more than 85 with several applications for new facilities now pending. Winemaking operations now span the Texas countryside from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast and are located in nearly 50 counties and some 70 cities.
The economic impact of winemaking to the Texas economy is substantial, employing about 1,600 workers in the wine grape industry. The recent court and legislature decisions, accompanied by a growing interest in grape growing and winemaking in various parts of the state, will enable the industry to compete on a much greater scale, offering both opportunities and challenges. Cheers!!!.