11 Fun Facts About Texas Wine Industry
Did you know these interesting facts about the Texas Wine Industry?
Texas boasts of 400 wineries in the state.
Texas is ranked #5 in the US as the largest wine producing state behind: 1. California 2. Washington 3. New York 4. Oregon and 5. Texas.
There are 5000 acres of wine grapes in Texas.
80% of Texas wine grapes are grown in the Texas High Plains region.
The Texas Wine Industry attracts 1.7 million tourists each year.
The Wine Industry in Texas accounts for 1.3 billion dollars in economic impact.
Texas is one of the oldest wine growing states in the US. Vines were first planted in Texas over 100 years before they were planted in California and Virginia. Grapes were first planted in Texas in 1650’s by Franciscan priests who planted grape vines in West Texas, near where El Paso is today. “Wine wouldn’t exist today without Texas!”
Horticulturist Thomas Munson used grapevines from Texas to create hybrid grapes for becoming root stock to help save the French wine industry from total ruin from the Phylloxera epidemic.
Phylloxera is an insect that attacked the roots of the grapevines. It is similar to lice but this only attacks plants. It caused the destruction of 6 million acres of grapevines in France alone. It then also spread to other European countries.
The sunny and dry climate in the Texas wine regions is similar to the climate in Portugal. The wines from Texas are often compared to Portuguese wines.
There are 36 types of grapes from the Vitis grape vine family found in Texas. 15 of these are native to Texas which is more than any other region in the US.
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