Texas vintners blend Mediterranean grapes and great harvest in hopes of helping $1.35 billion wine industry grow
Texas vintners blend Mediterranean grapes and great harvest in hopes of helping $1.35 billion wine industry grow
Oct 31, 2010 6
To see the future of Texas wine, you'll need a passport and maybe some sunscreen because it's all in the Mediterranean.
That's the inspiration for wine makers' newest strategy: growing grapes that love Texas weather.
Like most states' nascent wine businesses, Texas saw its pioneer growers pick grapes and produce wines that appealed to the masses.
But it turns out mass-market grapes – chardonnay, merlot and the like – can have a rough time in Texas clay.
Now grape growers have set their sights on Mediterranean varieties from southern Italy, Spain and southern France.
They thrive in the Texas sun, are much more likely to survive the state's unpredictable weather extremes and are already producing top-shelf vino with the Lone Star State stamp.
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