Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/853816
August 2017 WINES&VINES 61 WINE EAST WINE INDUSTRY NEWS and Bonarrigo is confident they'll have a fully vetted proposal for the next legislative session in 2019. "We now have a nice year and a half to come up with a plan," he said. Total acreage uncertain A 2015 study by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service found the state had around 5,000 total vineyard acres and 3,800 bearing acres. The region with the most bearing acres is the Texas High Plains and Panhandle with 1,650 acres. The 2015 state har- vest totaled 11,400 tons with an average yield of 3 tons per acre. Bonarrigo said the USDA fig- ures don't have the complete pic- ture, and based on his knowledge of Texas vineyards, there are prob- ably around 3,800 acres of bearing vineyards in just the High Plains AVA. Another challenge in Texas, Bonarrigo said, is that there is little reliable and accurate data on the size of the industry. "We've come to the realization that without data we're really hurting ourselves." Part of the problem is that many wineries in Texas aren't lo- cated near those vineyards. This coming harvest, Bonarrigo said his company arranged for a truck to haul grapes from the High Plains, and 30 other companies will have fruit on that truck. But even if logistical challenges were solved, the state's vineyards probably wouldn't be able to sup- port the demand for Texas grapes. Add a serious frost or hail event, and the supply is even more con- strained. Some growers in the state put Texas' capacity at closer to 15,000 tons in a good vintage and say that's more than enough for the state's wineries. In what was widely reported as a contentious and heated ses- sion, the two sides expressed their support or opposition to the bill in a hearing this spring. Opponents said the bill was a shrewd marketing move by a small group of wineries and growers who are ignoring the realities of grow- ing wine grapes in Texas. Propo- nents of the bill argued using non-Texas fruit is an insult to the growing industry and the real re- sistance to stricter labeling is from wineries that use cheaper and widely available out-of-state grapes to pad their programs and keep prices artificially low. At the hearing, Bonarrigo said labeling grew to be the most "divi- sive and damaging" issue the state's industry has faced in a decade. Brundrett said he and the other members of the new Texas Wine Growers were surprised by how much opposition they received from others in the Texas wine in- dustry but remain committed to their vision. "We want to continue to grow the Texas wine industry and want our consumers to know that if we put Texas on the label, it means as much as Washington or California," he said in an email. "We respect the wineries in our state. They have incredible busi- nesses, but we want to do it dif- ferently. Opposition and difference of opinion is good sometimes as it drives the industry." —Andrew Adams Bill Blackmon (left) and Chris Brundrett led an effort to allow only wines pro- duced with 100% Texas grapes to use a Texas appellation on the label.