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« BACK The new changes in the state liquor laws actually began as a much more ambitious attempt to bring the beverage code up to date. A proposal backed by a California-based wine institute would have allowed mail-order and Internet sources to ship wines directly to Texas consumers for the first time -- and for Texas wineries to ship within or outside the state. The "direct shipping" law was defeated by the well-funded Texas liquor lobby. Four large liquor companies, including Republic Beverage of Houston and Block Distributing of San Antonio, distribute some 85 percent of all wine sold in the state. These companies, according to a May article in The Dallas Morning News, are generous contributors to Texas political campaigns. Their influential lobbyist, "Butch" Sparks, has been single-mindedly promoting big liquor's interests in Austin for more than 30 years. The changes that did pass were a consolation prize for beleaguered wineries. The new laws make it possible to ship wines directly within the state (without a distributor) and to hold festivals on a winery's premises. And for the first time, wineries in dry counties will be able to sell their bottles for consumption off-premises. (Previously, such wineries had to direct you to a liquor store in a wet county to buy their bottles.) The legislation also created the Texas Wine Marketing Assistance Program. State Rep. David Swinford, of Dumas, who sponsored the bill, says it will help small wineries that have yet to find a market. "The new laws will allow more small wineries to survive," said Haak. "These little wineries that make 500 or 1,000 cases are going to be able to support themselves now." It's hard for a small winery to make any money selling at the wholesale price to a liquor distributor. Selling to customers from a tasting room at full retail, on the other hand, is very profitable. "Half a dozen new wineries have popped up since the bill was passed," reported David A. Miller, executive director of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. "If you look at a map, you see that half of the state is dry. We've got a lot of wineries in those dry areas. They can make wine, but they can't sell it. This levels the playing field for them." The Texas wine industry is headquartered in West Texas. The best grape-growing region is in the South Plains near Lubbock. The Spanish called this area the Llano Estacado, which means staked plains. It was covered with prairie grasses when the conquistadors found it and was, to their minds, completely devoid of landmarks. They had to drive stakes into the ground as they traveled to keep from getting lost. Today, the South Plains is still pretty featureless -- an endless stretch of cotton fields with no trees, no mountains, and no significant bodies of water. The locals wax eloquent about the beauty of the sunsets and the wide-open spaces, but nobody will ever mistake this region for the Napa Valley or the south of France. Tourism is not a major factor in the local economy. Beautiful or not, however, the area's coolness and the lack of humidity make it the state's best for grapes, viticulture consultant Dr. Charles McKinney said. In 1981, while serving as director of research at the University of Texas Lands Office, McKinney headed up the experiment that started the modern Texas wine industry. UT owned more than two million acres in different parts of the state at the time, and it was McKinney's job to come up with ways to use the acreage profitably. On a piece of land near Fort Stockton, not far from the South Plains, UT planted wine grapes. "Grapes need less water than cotton and sell for more money," McKinney explained. More than 1,000 acres were planted with a multitude of varietals, including chenin blanc, French colombard, ruby cabernet, barbera, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, and muscat canelli. Many did well. The university leased its lands to private-sector concerns, which ran the actual businesses. They contracted to lease the grapevines to a newly formed Texas winery called St. Genevieve. The winery was once well known for its sauvignon blanc. "Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a market for sauvignon blanc in Texas then," observed McKinney. NEXT »
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