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tomorrow's texas tea Print
Written by Nikitas Magel   

Fall Creek WineryRK: (con'd) Now, as a PhD, I did the deep dive: I went out and bought myself an extensive library of books, went through the whole history of wine, going through all the California books, the French books, the Spanish books.  It really became much more than a hobby; it was taking over a good deal of my life.  And so that's how I got started [in wine].  Now, when I sold my company, they wanted me to be totally consumed with this venture I was selling them for two and half years.  It was only in January of this year that I retired from that, started to get back into the wine industry again, and wanted to write.  So I started the blog as an exercise to write more or less on a daily basis.  I reestablished my contacts, found out what the current issues were, and worked on a book proposal in and around the wine industry.

NM: So it sounds like you got involved very quickly and intensely, to the point where you're now in the thick of it.  From your perspective and understanding, then, what are some of the broad strokes in the picture that has developed into the Texas wine industry today, and how do you see that changing in the future?

RK: It's a new and emerging wine-producing region.  Now, there's not a whole lot of Texans who are experienced in drinking wine — this used to be bourbon and beer state.  But what's happened over the past fifteen years is that it's become one of the top wine-consuming states in the U.S.  It's had some amazing growth, year over year.  From a consumer standpoint, there's been a real interest in wine.  Now, you were saying that California is kind of the center of the U.S. wine universe, but there was a point when that wasn't the case.  Back in the '60s and '70s, all the big names you hear today were only just starting out as pioneers.  We're going through that same kind of evolution right here now.  And it's some pretty amazing growth we are going through.  So, the combination between wine, growing in consumer interest and consumption and the local wine industry getting more experience, and frankly making better wines.  The most recent of  'broad strokes' that I can talk about are literally within the last two to three years.  The State of Texas is following what I call the Washington State model, where the government has gotten behind the industry, and established regional viticulturists and a state enologist — plus we already have a state of pretty good farmers.  That has been doing tremendous things over the short term here to increase production and quality, and to figure out which varietals we should be growing.  We're now going from what I call Phase One, which was making wine out of varietals that people recognize (Cabernet, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc), to now going through Phase Two, which is an experimental state to see which varietals do well, vineyard-wise, and finding out that Texas is actually more like the Mediterranean.  So, consequently, we're getting a lot more traction from the growers, winemakers, and consumers on wines similar to what one might find in the Southern Rhone, and some of the warmer regions of Spain and Italy.  Those are the kind of trends I see taking place, all very good from the standpoint of increasing our productivity and quality, particularly at a price point that's competitive with the global market.

NM: One thing you mentioned that I'm finding particularly interesting is that the Texas government is getting involved, not only organizing the state's wine industry but also investing resources in time, energy, and money to build it up.  I think, more than anything else, that's where the industry's success is going to hinge upon, during these initial, formative years.  Where are those resources going, how are they being allocated, and how long has the state's campaign of sponsorship and support been going on?

"Texas has become one of the top wine-consuming states in the U.S. It's had some amazing growth, year over year."

RK: If you look at where the industry has been over the past, I would say, five years, we've gone from 60 to over 160 wineries.  A lot of these are small, family-run operations.  They're not able to fund research and development.  And, likewise, they don't have large marketing budgets, either.  So, what the state of Texas began doing, starting in about 2003, was the beginning of an amazing evolution.  First off, they started by allocating a quarter of a million dollars in funds, through the Texas wine-marketing program, just to help consumers know what's out here.  Much of this has been focused within the state, with sponsored festivals, advertising, and billboards.  But it's also been outside the state — they've bought full-page ads in national magazines like Food & Wine.  This was all to help the image of Texas wines move up a notch or two.  Secondly — and what I think is the most fundamental and important structural change, because Texas still has dry counties and municipalities — is that the government changed the state constitution.  They had an amendment vote (that passed), which said that as long as you were producing with at least 75% Texas grapes, you could open a winery anywhere in the state, whether it was wet or dry, and you could sell wine out of your tasting room, even if it was in a totally dry area.  That was a tremendous cultural change.



 

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