Texas Wine Pioneers

In the years preceding the seventies, America began to awaken to locally sourced food and wine; a key turning point was The Judgement of Paris in 1976, a moment that rocked the world of wine and set it on a different course. French judges, in a blind tasting, judged two California wines superior to their French counterparts. Attitudes toward wine began to shift and adventurous people in various parts of the United States began to feel empowered to explore wine-making conditions in their own regions. As part of this cultural movement, Gretchen Glasscock, returning from the East with a degree from Columbia University and a penchant for research, upended a Texas A&M Study asserting that all Texas was a hot and humid climate suitable for growing only jug wines. She identified the region around Blue Mountain in Fort Davis as cool and crisp, like Napa or parts of France. Before planting her vineyard, Glasscock brought in renowned viticultural and enology experts to guide her in developing this new Texas agribusiness. Subsequent Judgement of Paris moments have now taken place putting premiumTexas wines at the center of a new, more diverse wine universe. This book provides new details recorded by a Texas wine pioneer, advocate, activist and entrepreneur who lived it. Her seminal research and hard fought wine legislation laid the foundation, enabling the development of a multibillion-dollar Texas wine industry.This is a tale of epic battles and larger-than-life personalities, including iconic global winemakers, titans of the wine industry, newcomers who wanted to create this groundbreaking industry and Texas legislators who either caved or fiercely fought the well-financed liquor lobby that had one goal: to kill change.It explores the future of the Texas wine industry, particularly in this present moment of a pandemic that has forced wine-tasting rooms and wine festivals to shut down. Glasscock's solution is to establish an online wine sales platform for all Texas wineries to be able to market their wine online and deliver it to a wine lover's door, in a way that will create a new prosperity for the Texas wine industry.

Sample the untold history of Texas’s wine industry in this book filled with fascinating stories and photos. Spanish colonists may have come to Texas to spread Christianity, but under visionary Father Fray Garcia, they stayed and raised grapes. Later immigrants brought their own burgundy tastes of home, creating a unique wine country. When a North American pest threatened European vines, it was Texan scientist T. V. Munson who helped save the industry overseas. When Prohibition loomed stateside, Frank Qualia's Val Verde Winery in Del Rio survived by selling communion wine—and it’s now the longest-operating bonded winery in the state. Today, tourists flock to Texas vineyards, and the state sells more wine every year. Join local experts Kathy and Neil Crain and sample the untold story of Texas's wine industry, a 350-year story that is still reaching its savory peak.

The Texas Hill Country wineries have roots as old as any around. Texas grapes grow in soils made from ancient sea deposits, similar to the grape-growing regions of Europe. Texas wine culture arrived in the 1600s with Spanish missionaries who settled and planted vineyards in El Paso del Norte. The 1800s brought German and Italian immigrant farmers to Texas; they considered wine a staple of everyday life. In what is now America's No. 5 wine-producing state, the Texas Hill Country was named by Wine Enthusiast magazine to its 2014 list of best international wine destinations. It may surprise some, but not the wine aficionados who have visited the Texas Hill Country's 50 or more wineries, that wine-and-culinary tourism is currently the Texas Hill Country's fastest growing sector. This book is your guide to the Texas Hill Country winery experience. It is time to sip and savor Texas for yourself.

A History of Wine in America is the definitive account of winemaking in the United States, first as it was carried out under Prohibition, and then as it developed and spread to all fifty states after the repeal of Prohibition. Engagingly written, exhaustively researched, and rich in detail, this book describes how Prohibition devastated the wine industry, the conditions of renewal after Repeal, the various New Deal measures that affected wine, and the early markets and methods. Thomas Pinney goes on to examine the effects of World War II and how the troubled postwar years led to the great wine boom of the late 1960s, the spread of winegrowing to almost every state, and its continued expansion to the present day. The history of wine in America is, in many ways, the history of America and of American enterprise in microcosm. Pinney's sweeping narrative comprises a lively cast of characters that includes politicians, bootleggers, entrepreneurs, growers, scientists, and visionaries. Pinney relates the development of winemaking in states such as New York and Ohio; its extension to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Texas, and other states; and its notable successes in California, Washington, and Oregon. He is the first to tell the complete and connected story of the rebirth of the wine industry in California, now one of the most successful winemaking regions in the world.

Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo were pioneers in the Texas wine industry. They founded Messina Hof which reflected their union of love as well as the origins of their heritages from Messina, Sicily and Hof, Germany. This book shares their amazing Texas wine journey, reveals their marketing strategies and the elements that have made Messina Hof so successful. It provides insights into their business development and how they were successful in keeping their love story so vibrant. This is the perfect book for those in a family business. There are many lessons learned and shared. This book is inspirational and it traces a history of Texas from its inception as a Pet Rock Industry to its modern day world class status.

Grape Man of Texas is the first biography of Thomas Volney Munson (1843-1913), the internationally recognized horticulturist who developed over 300 new varieties of grapes, some of which are still grown today on almost every continent. He is perhaps best known for his work in fighting the phylloxera epidemic of the late nineteenth century, which nearly destroyed the world's vineyards. His solution—grafting vinifera onto certain resistant native rootstocks from Texas—earned him the Chevalier du Merite Agricole in the French Legion of Honor and numerous accolades. This second edition introduces new insights into the phylloxera period, Munson's many papers and publications, and his far-sighted grasp of the needs of twentieth century agriculture and transportation. It details the continuing influence of both his research and his hybrid grapes on modern viticulture and new varieties of vitis that have been bred from them around the world.

After a twenty-year haul traveling throughout the state's wine businesses, the result was this travel and reference guide for the avid wine connoisseur. The book breaks up each of Texas's 38 wineries into separate scenic drives, with suggestions on food/hotel accommodations and various other interesting pit stops along the way. The Houston Chronicle acclaims, "Here's a book that's been needed for some time: a book on Texas wines that also has 'trails' for travelers, plus recipes to go with the wines. This is a full-service book, not just another listing of wineries."