Texas winemakers can easily cite this fact. Texas is larger than France with 11 major wine producing regions. But the Lone Star State is only home to eight American Viticultural Areas. There’s a good chance that will change in the not-too-distant future.
Six new AVAs are on the horizon for Texas—three with applications in motion, and another three soon-to-be proposed—suggesting the possibility of more definition and visibility that, for many Texas winemakers, feels overdue given the industry’s impressive growth.
“Texas has had a reputation that we can’t grow good fruit,” says Phil Lopez, owner of Silver Spur Winery in north-central Texas. That’s an antiquated way of thinking, he believes. “Many winemakers, in the beginning, imported fruit from California and called it Texas wine. That’s a stigma we must get over.”
Why AVAs are Important
Although wine can legally be made outside of designated AVAs, there’s a clear benefit to wineries of being located within one. In addition to helping further define what one might expect from a given region—the climate, soil, topographical features and…
