History of Texas Wine - Part 1

Post category: Our Wine Blog • Texas Vines and Wines
by Neil on May 4, 2008

Texas vines and wines (Go to Part 2.) Some of the excitement of wine is all the layers of history and culture that go into every bottle. As you learn about wine, you begin to see the connections between culture, religion, government, weather, soil, the winemaker, and the liquid refreshment in your glass.

Texas wine is no different. A glass of wine from one of Texas’ new wineries reflects the long struggle to produce quality grapes in an environment that has posed both agrarian and political roadblocks to wine making. Texas has come a long way in its search for a good glass of home grown, and it is story that is just beginning.

The wine of Spanish missionaries of Texas

In the 17th century, Spain was on the move in the New World. Missionaries and soldiers were exploring North America, and as they went, they built villages and missions. The villages were intended to expand the Spanish empire, and the missions were to convert Native Americans to Christianity. As the explorers got further from home and established permanent settlements, they had to make the things they needed in the New World.

A very important element of missionary culture was the celebration of the Eucharist. Celebrating the Eucharist requires wine, so Spanish missionaries planted grapes. In 1659, Father Garcia de Y Zungia and Father Juan de Salazar San planted grapevines near the settlement of Ysleta located on the banks of the Rio Grande River near present day El Paso. Over the next 13 years, four more missions emerged including, Corpus Christi de la Isleta, the oldest Spanish settlement if Texas.

The priests brought Lenoir or Black Spanish grapevines from Spain via missions in Mexico. The vineyards established by the monks provided Texas settlers with sacramental wine, table wine, and brandy. Wine grapes were grown in the region until the first part of the 20th century when prohibition virtually eliminated the market for wine grapes.

To plant European or native grape varietals?

The success of the vineyards in West Texas combined with the abundance of wild grapevines convinced many Europeans that Texas would be a great wine growing region. Beginning in the 1840s, Texas saw a wave of immigrants from Germany and a little later from France. The German immigrants settled in central Texas, founding the cities of Fredericksburg, Weimar, and New Braunfels. The Frenchmen and Alsatians settled around Castroville. Many of these immigrants came to plant grapes.

The settlers planted various species of Vitis vinifera, European wine-vines, in and around these communities, but there is no record of production. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to grow Vitis vinifera outside the High Plains and Trans-Pecos regions. Pests, fungus, and molds are the main challenges, but late season freezes, floods, draught and hail also play a role.

The failure of vintners to produce grapes using European varietals, led early Texans to try native grapes for wine production. Texas has many wild grape varietals. The most common native Texan grape is the so-called Mustang grape (Vitis candicans). The Mustang grape makes tolerable wine with the addition of sugar and was used to make limited amounts of commercially available wine. Vitis doaniana, another native grape, was also used to make wine. The grape was named after J. Doan, a judge in the Panhandle who was well-known for the wine he made from this grape. Despite these and a few other success stories, making wine from native grapes never took off.

Val Verde winery - The first lasting success

In 1883, Italian immigrant, Frank Qualia, arrived in Del Rio, Texas. Qualia saw that the Lenoir grape flourished along the Texas-Mexico border, and he started the Val Verde Winery based on the Lenoir grape. 125 years later, Val Verde winery is the oldest winery in the state and still makes wine using the Lenoir grape. Frank Qualia’a grandson, Thomas Qualia, now makes the wine.

Texan T.V. Munson, France, and phylloxera

No record of this period in Texas wine can overlook the accomplishments of Thomas Volney Munson (1843-1913). Thomas Munson, known as T. V. Munson, was a horticulturist and a prestigious breeder of native American grapes. Born in Astoria, Illinois, T.V. moved to Denison, Texas in 1876. Munson was fascinated by native American grapes, and he spent his entire adult life developing hybrids of both wine and table grapes. Munson’s work involved not only cross-breeding but also grafting. It was T.V.’s experience in the development of grapevines grafted onto transplanted rootstock that would soon be of critical importance.

Grapevines in North America are subject to many pests and diseases that were not historically present in Europe. Perhaps the most important and troublesome of these pests is Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae), or more commonly phylloxera. Phylloxera are tiny, yellow insects related to aphids that feed on roots of grapevines. These insects are native to North America, but were not present in Europe before the second half of the 19th century.

The pests arrived in France in a box of grapevines addressed to a man named Monsieur Borty. Borty had ordered the vines from New York, and he planted them in his small vineyard. Within two years vines in adjacent fields started to die. Within 6 years much of Southern Rhone was infected. At the height of the phylloxera epidemic, almost two-thirds of the vineyards in France were destroyed. French wine production fell to less than 25% of the pre-phylloxera levels.

The suffering caused by this outbreak was not limited to depriving people of their daily wine. With the introduction of the railway system in 1850, French wine had become big business. More than 15% of French tax revenue came from wine, and one-third of the population made its living in the wine industry. The phylloxera epidemic spawned a national financial crisis.

Back in Denison, Texas, T.V. was developing phylloxera resistant rootstock for his American commercial customers. Because many native American grapevines have been exposed to phylloxera, the rootstock of some native American species have developed substantial resistance to phylloxera. Through his work, T.V. knew which species produced the most resistant rootstock, so when the phylloxera epidemic broke out in Europe, T.V. was waiting with an answer. By grafting the traditional grapevines onto the phylloxera resistant rootstock, French wine makers could continue to use the same grapes. T.V. Munson’s insight and American rootstock saved the French wine industry. For his contribution, T.V. was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

Prohibition’s effect on Texas wines and vines

Commercial interest in growing wine grapes continued in Texas through 1900. Agricultural records from 1895 show that Texas had more than 1,800 acres devoted to grape production, yielding 1.5 million pounds of grapes and 1,800 barrels of wine. However, as prohibition and the temperance movement gained momentum, agricultural interest turned to table grapes. The only winery to survive prohibition was Val Verde. The owners of Val Verde held onto their vineyard and winery by selling table grapes and grapes for home wine production.

Despite the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933, the Texas wine industry continued to decline. Records from the Texas Department of Agriculture show that by 1970 Texas had less than 90 acres devoted to the production of wine grapes, but things were about to change.

Go to: History of Texas Wine - Part 2