Texas Wines
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Texas Wine Links

Wine Society of Texas • "Wine appreciation through education." The mission of the WST is to enhance the appreciation of wine, especially Texas wines, educate the experienced as well as the beginning wine taster, promote the wine makers and grape growers, foster the knowledge of oenology and viticulture, help in charitable activities throughout the state of Texas, and promote the responsible consumption of wine.

Texas Wineries
Virtual Classroom on Wine

Regional Chapters:

Texas Wine & Grape Growers Association • Promotes the production and appreciation of premium grapes and fine wines from Texas and to represent a unified state industry with common marketing, governmental and educational goals.

Texas Wine • Toast a Rising Star. The Texas Wine Marketing Assistance Program promotes the Texas wine industry and provides information for Texas consumers and wineries.

Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute • Fosters economic development and growth of the Texas wine and wine grape industry through education, research, and service. The Institute regularly collects and disseminates information concerning Texas wine and wine grape production, wine sales and wine consumption in Texas, and the industry's economic impacts on the Texas economy.

Texas Winegrape Network • A comprehensive viticulture information resource for grape growers.

Texas Wine Advocates • A Voice for Texas Wine.

Texas Wine Trails • "Your portal to the entire Texas wine industry."

Texas Wineries

Texas Hill Country Wine Trail • Map and suggested winery list.

Texas Wine Tours.com • Provides delightful custom trips in a chauffeured limousine to Texas Hill Country wineries, leaving from Austin or San Antonio.

Texas Wine Country • History of Texas viticulture.

Wine Lovers' Page • Texas Wines • Information about Texas wines and wineries.

Texas Wines • This website.

Texas American Viticultural Areas • Texas has six recognized AVAs.

Fredericksburg Wine Stores • Wine lovers must not miss Fredericksburg, Texas; this town has three excellent wine stores within a block of each other that have complimentary tastings and sale of many Texas wines and wine accessories. Visitors can taste dozens of different wines in one day--the fastest wine class you will ever enjoy; it would be best to stay overnight in a Fredericksburg hotel if you plan to take this class! But there's more: many of Texas' finest Hill Country wineries surround Fredericksburg and can be visited with short drives.

Grapevine Wineries • This city is known for its wineries and tasting rooms, and is the home of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association.

Houston Wine Stores • Houston has two outstanding wine stores. They both host wine tastings on Friday afternoons.

Austin Wine Store

Lubbock Wineries • This West Texas city has three excellent wineries with tasting rooms. Two are located only a few miles apart south of the city, the other is north. For safety reasons, visitors are allowed to taste only five wines at one time, so phone ahead if you want to arrange permission to taste all their wines.

Wine Columns, Reviews, and Reports


Texas Wine News

Proposition 11 Passes in Texas --
Wineries in Dry Counties Can Legally Sell Their Wines Directly to Consumers

by Steven Schafersman
Texas Wines
September 13, 2003

"A constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to enact laws authorizing and governing the operation of wineries in this state."

Proposition 11 gives the Legislature authority to allow wine sales even in dry counties. The wine would have to come from a winery in that county. Supporters say the proposition will boost tourism and economic development, especially in rural areas where farmers grow grapes, even though many of those areas are dry. Many wineries are prohibited from selling their product on the premises or to retail outlets, and many of them don't produce enough to interest wholesale distributors.

Almost half the state's 60 wineries are in "dry" counties (Texas wet-dry map) that ban sales of alcoholic beverages. For the wineries, this is a problem because to make money, they must sell their product, often to tourists and wine lovers who make a personal visit to the winery to taste the wine before buying. The Legislature has approved laws to allow wineries to sell their products on their premises, but some worry that a legal cloud persists over such sales without a constitutional amendment. Now, the legal cloud has been removed, and wineries can safely and legally sell their wine from their premises.

According to the House Research Organization website, twenty years ago Texas and Washington each had 12 wineries with about 2,500 acres of vineyards in production. Since then, Washington has passed laws to encourage the industry and the 12 wineries have grown to 200 wineries with 29,000 acres under cultivation. The economic impact in Washington has been $2.5 billion. Texas now has 52 wineries but still has about 2,500 acres under cultivation with a much smaller impact of $133 million. The number of Texas wineries is expected to grow to 70 by 2005. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs says "the wine and wine grapes produced by Texas vineyards are an extremely valuable crop, returning an average yield of about $1,800 per acre. Compare that with average returns of $270 an acre for corn, or $221 per acre for cotton."

Texas is fifth in wine production among the states, behind California, Washington, Oregon, and New York. Proposition 11 was a key change to Texas law that will help our small wine industry. Now, more positive changes are needed, such as legal incentives and more state support for grape growing and wine making.


Agency Calls End to Battle Over Wine --
Shipping Allowed From Out of State

by David Koenig
Associated Press
August 28, 2003

Texas wine drinkers can raise their glasses in a toast to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court this summer upheld a decision striking down a Texas law that banned direct shipments of out-of-state wine to Texans' doorsteps. This week, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission decided it won't appeal.

"This is the greatest news I've heard in a long time," said James Yochim of Houston, who has a wine cellar with 1,800 bottles. "It's going to save me money ... and I can legally get all the wine I want."

Yochim said boutique wineries in California refused to ship him their wine because of the Texas law. Other wine lovers said the law prevented them from taking advantage of bargains that vintners offer on case lots.

Two groups stand to lose from the ruling: Texas wineries and wholesale distributors.

Texas wineries can only ship directly to consumers who visit the winery to make a purchase. Under the 5th Circuit ruling, Texans will be able to order California wine over the phone and have it shipped to their house, but a phone order to a Texas winery must be delivered to a retailer.

"Most Texas wineries do want shipping. We think it's a good thing in the long run," said Les Constable, who owns Brushy Creek Vineyards near Alvord. "But this decision is very troubling."

Constable said confusion over wet and dry areas of the state may prevent shippers like Federal Express and United Parcel Service from delivering wine at all, leaving consumers disappointed. "The wet-dry issue is a real mess," he said.

The shippers want the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to tell them which areas of the state are wet and which are dry, but the commission said only county clerks have the maps.

Wholesale distributors, who act as middlemen by delivering wine from producers to retail outlets, had lobbied to save the direct-shipping ban.

Officials of the Licensed Beverage Distributors of Texas, which represents wine distributors, did not immediately return calls.

Texas ranks 35th among the states in per capita wine consumption. Texans drank 10.2 million cases in 2001, up from 7.8 million in 1996, according to the institute.

The challenge to the direct-sales ban grew out of the experience of a Houston lawyer who, on a California vacation, couldn't have wine shipped home.

The lawyer, Mark Cotham, and his law firm partner, Mark Harwell, found three Houston wine lovers to serve as plaintiffs, and they sued in 1997. Federal District Court Judge Melinda Harmon ruled in favor of the wine drinkers, and the federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld that ruling in June.

The alcoholic beverage commission decided this week not to appeal. General counsel Lou Bright declined to detail the reasons for not appealing, but he noted that several federal appeals courts are considering state laws against direct shipments of alcohol to consumers -- meaning that the U.S. Supreme Court could be asked to settle the issue.

An appeal would have been costly to the state, he added.

It's unclear how many Texans will take advantage of direct shipping.

"There aren't an awful lot of us that buy wine by the case," said Arthur Platt, who belongs to a 100-member wine club in Houston called Knights of the Vine.

Platt said there are plenty of good wines for under $10 a bottle in local stores. He added that aficionados are always looking for specialty wines and straight-from-the-vintner bargains and will relish the chance to buy direct.

"If I buy a suit in New York, there aren't any rules against bringing it back to Texas," Platt said. "Why should buying wine be different?"


Wine Consumption By State

by The Associated Press
August 27, 2003

Some statistics about wine consumption in Texas:


Federal Judge Overturns Texas' Wine-Shipping Laws

by Dana Nigro
The Wine Spectator
July 18, 2002
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Daily/News/0,1145,1770,00.html

A U.S. District Court judge yesterday overturned Texas laws that allow local wineries to ship their wines directly to consumers' homes, while prohibiting out-of-state wineries from doing the same.

While the state may appeal the case, residents of Texas are now able, for the time being, to call up or e-mail a winery in any other state and place an order for delivery, according to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. (Whether or not they can find a shipping company to deliver the wine is another matter.)

In her 48-page opinion, Judge Melinda Harmon wrote that Texas' alcohol beverage code "on its face is unconstitutional and economically discriminatory against out-of-state wine producers, imposing differing burdens on in- and out-of-state producers so as to favor in-state wineries."

"This is a well-reasoned opinion that will stand up on appeal," said Fort Worth attorney Sterling Steves, who represents the three Houston wine aficionados who filed the original case in 1999.

The new ruling reinforces Harmon's February 2000 decision that the state's ban on interstate wine shipments violated residents' right to free trade under the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause. (At that time, Texas wineries were not allowed to ship in-state, either.) However, after issuing her original decision, Harmon granted the state's request to reconsider the case, allowing it to continue enforcing its ban.

Then in 2001, the Texas legislature passed the Texas Wine Marketing Assistance Program, which enabled local wineries to send their products to Texas residents. The plaintiffs subsequently amended their suit to challenge the new law.

Over the past few years, wine consumers have been taking the issue of wine-shipping to the federal courts, questioning whether the 21st Amendment, which grants states the right to control alcohol sales within their borders, also allows them to restrict interstate commerce. After initial victories in Indiana and Texas, shipping supporters were dealt a string of unfavorable rulings in Florida, Michigan and the appeal of the Indiana case. But so far this year, federal judges have overturned interstate shipping bans in North Carolina and Virginia; another similar case is pending in New York.

The latest Texas ruling "is another brick in the foundation towards our ultimate goal of making this a Supreme Court case," said Tracy Genesen, legal counsel for the Coalition for Free Trade, a winery-supported organization that backs consumer lawsuits on wine shipping. "We feel that three cases decided in our favor in the last six months is solid momentum for our position that the 21st Amendment does not insulate states from allowing some kind of access for out-of-state wine producers."

Harmon's opinion strongly supports the argument made by many small wineries that shipping bans hurt their ability to do business.

"Because out-of-state producers must go through Texas-licensed wholesalers and retailers to sell wine in Texas, they suffer higher costs, which translate into higher prices, which in turn affect their ability to compete with local Texas wineries," Harmon wrote. "Indeed, given the small number of Texas wholesalers and the burgeoning number of wineries, the requirement that they go through Texas wholesalers essentially may lock most of them out of any access to Texas markets, even if they are willing to take on the additional costs. Such discrimination is especially felt by small, family-run wineries with limited production, like Wiederkehr Wine Cellars [an Arkansas producer from which the consumers had sought to order]."

The Texas ABC is currently discussing the court decision with the state attorney general's office, according to Randy Yarbrough, deputy administrator of the ABC. "For the short run, it means it will not be illegal for someone to purchase wines from an out-of-state winery and have them shipped to you," he concluded.

However, shipping companies such as UPS and FedEx don't currently ship wine to Texas and generally wait for states to resolve pending legal and regulatory matters before doing so.

The attorney general is likely to appeal the case, but unless the judge issues a stay on her order, or until new legislation is passed, "there's not much we can do," Yarbrough said. "She has ruled that law to be unconstitutional." He said that, if the state does obtain approval to enforce its laws during an appeal, no one who had ordered or shipped wine between now and then would be prosecuted.

"My lord, we won the war here," exclaimed Steves. However, he noted that the consumers who filed the suit were not seeking unregulated shipping. "The plaintiffs do want a system to provide for the collection of taxes in Texas."

Yarbrough explained that the state legislature could take up the matter when it reconvenes in January to settle issues such as tax collection, delivery to minors and dry counties. "I would expect they would look at a number of different bills to create an out-of-state winery shipping license much like other states have done," he said.


Texas Wine Drinkers Score Court Victory on Direct Shipping

by Dana Nigro
The Wine Spectator
February 14, 2000
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Daily/News/0,1145,946,00.html

In a forcefully rendered decision that could affect court cases around the country, a federal judge has overturned a Texas law that banned consumers from ordering alcoholic beverages from out-of-state sources. The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Houston last April by three Texas residents who wanted to have wine shipped to their homes.

In her 43-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon agreed with the consumers' argument that the Texas law violates their right to free trade under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. This same argument is the basis of direct-shipping lawsuits recently filed by consumer groups in New York, Virginia and Florida.

Harmon wrote: "The court finds that there is no temperance goal served by the statute since Texas residents can become as drunk on local wines or on wines of large out-of-state suppliers able to pass into the state through its distribution system, and available in unrestricted quantities, as those that, because of their cellar's size or Texas wholesalers' or retailers' constraints, are in practical effect kept out of state by the statute."

The judge is expected to issue an injunction preventing the state from enforcing its law. The state then has 30 days to file an appeal and ask for a stay of motion, allowing the government to enforce its regulations until the appeals court reaches a decision. Alternatively, the Texas legislature could opt to pass a new bill creating a system of controlled direct shipping.

The existing Texas law prohibits residents from importing alcoholic beverages unless they personally accompany the bottles as they enter the state. (Even then, residents are only allowed to bring in up to three gallons of wine per month.) Instead, most sales must go the "three-tier system" -- from the producer to a licensed wholesaler to the retailers who sell to the consumers. However, Texas retailers and wineries are allowed to make home deliveries to residents.

Currently, 30 states prohibit interstate direct shipments of alcoholic beverages; in seven of those states, violation of the law is a felony.

Harmon's decision adds support to a growing body of case law indicating that such interstate shipping bans discriminate against out-of-state businesses. In a similar case in Indiana, which is being appealed, U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp overturned that state's law last year, ruling that the purpose of the 21st Amendment -- which repealed Prohibition and gave states the right to control the importation of alcoholic beverages across their borders -- is temperance and not economic protection for the local alcoholic-beverage industry.

"Judge Harmon has written by far the most scholarly and in-depth opinion by the federal courts on this issue and should make quite a difference in the ongoing legal fight against protectionism directed at small out-of-state wineries," said Houston attorney Mark Harwell, who handled the case along with Fort Worth attorney Sterling Steves.

"The court's opinion represents a great leap forward on the direct-shipping controversy," said William Kinzler, general counsel for the San Francisco-based Coalition for Free Trade, a nonprofit group that supports consumer lawsuits to change state direct-shipping laws. However, he warned that this ruling doesn't ensure success in other arenas.

Many wholesalers around the country -- whose businesses may be threatened by direct sales via the Internet, phone or mail -- have been lobbying state and federal officials for bans on direct shipments, citing concerns such as collection of state taxes and the availability of alcohol to minors. "As a result of this decision, we expect the wholesalers to really turn up the heat in the Virginia, New York and Florida cases," said Kinzler. "The battle is about to become tougher."

"We believe that neither [the Texas] decision nor the ruling in Indiana will withstand an appeal if one is pursued, said Juanita Duggan, CEO of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, an association that has lobbied for restrictions on direct shipping. "A state's right to control alcohol beverage sales go far beyond promoting temperance and clearly include laws to ensure orderly market conditions and to raise revenue."

More Wine News Articles:


Texas Wineries

CENTRAL TEXAS

Austin

Bend

Comfort

Cypress Mills

Del Rio

Driftwood

Lago Vista

Fredericksburg

Johnson City

Lampasas

New Braunfels

Poteet

Sisterdale

Spicewood

Stonewall

Tow

NORTH TEXAS

Alvord

Crossroads

DFW Airport

Denison

Fort Worth

Grapevine

Iowa Park

Pilot Point

Pittsburg

Tyler

Valley View

WEST TEXAS

Fort Davis

Lubbock

Plains

Fort Stockton

EAST TEXAS

Brenham

Bryan

Giddings

Orange

Santa Fe

Spring

Sugar Land


Steven Schafersman of Texas Wines at infoATcybercomputing.com.
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Last Updated: 2007 May 1