 April 21, 2008 - According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas wine industry contributes more than $100 million dollars to the State’s economy each year. In the last two years alone, the number of bonded Texas wineries increased from 54 to 85. You don’t have to be a wine snob to enjoy Texas wine. There are price points for nearly every budget. Festivals that celebrate Texas wine can be as simple as a weekend camping trip or as elaborate as a celebration that harvests thousands of tons of grapes and extends over five weekends every year.
Hill Country Wine Ho-down
Nestled in the gentle rolling hills just outside of Kerrville, the Quiet Valley Ranch hosts the epic 18-day Kerrville Wine & Music Festival every spring. Perhaps lesser known, but equally impressive is the fall festival that takes place over the Labor Day weekend each year. The Kerrville Wine and Music Festival, or “Little Folk” takes place over three days, combines wine and music, and highlights some of Texas’ best wineries.
Situated up the hill from the main concert stage and in stark contrast to the tie-die shirts and herbalist plying their remedies, the highlight of the festival is the wine seminar and evening wine tasting. Rod Kennedy, founder of both festivals, heads up panel discussions each day, with representatives of well known and perhaps, lesser-known wineries giving their view of the perfect wine to compliment salmon or Thai food, the impact of the regional climate on a wine crop or instruction on the proper way to smell and taste wine. For about two hours, this all-star panel of wine experts offered unique educational opportunities for fans of music and wine. It’s hot outside, but the information is cool.
“The wine and music festival is a showcase for Texas wines,” Kennedy said. “I think we hit the jackpot with the quality of our wines this year.”
On the first day, the topic of discussion for the wine panel is “Other Than Dry” Texas wines. Winemakers and experts from Spicewood, Llano Estacado, Messina Hof and Texas Hills explain the subtleties and complexities of their version of sweet white wine, while the crowd is treated to a taste of each varietal.
Gary Gilstrap, the winemaker at Texas Hills Vineyard in Johnson City, said a wine containing 5% residual sugar is considered a sweet wine. His offering for the seminar Orange Moscato. Gilstrap explained that the Muscat Cannelli grape is the most grown grape anywhere in the world and it grows really well in Texas.
Following the panel discussion, patrons are encouraged to wander over to the music area and taste the wines of the participating Texas vineyards. As the sun set over the Texas hills, the crowd settled in for an evening of live music and some impressive Texas wines.
Mustang Grapes, a Wine Won’t Make
Grapevine is perhaps best known for it proximity to the Dallas/Fort Worth International airport, but on the second weekend of September each year, the population increases seven-fold as people descend on the small town to celebrate Texas wine and the city’s grape heritage.
Grapefest is the largest wine festival in the Southwestern United States. In 2003, the American Bus Association designated Grapefest as one of the top 100 events in North America. Over the four-day period from Thursday to Sunday, more than 250,000 people will pass through the turnstiles to meander up and down historic Main Street and eat traditional festival food like funnel cakes and corn dogs. They also come to taste and vote for their favorite Texas wine and compete in an old fashioned grape stomp contest.
Kathee Livengood, the festival chair for 2004, said this 18-year-old festival has continued to grow in a city that only has one estate vineyard. Livengood, who has volunteered with the festival since its inception said, “I think we have more volunteers at this year’s festival than we had attendees at the first Grapefest.”
Two of the most popular events are the “Peoples Choice Awards” and “Grapestomp.” During eight sessions, wine aficionados pay a small fee for a wine glass and entry into the tasting area. For 90-minutes, they are able to visit winery exhibits and sample Texas wines, all the while, recording their preferences on a ballot. At the close of the festival, the results are tallied and awards are handed out. Brazos Valley’s own Messina Hof Winery garnered top honors in five of the six categories they entered.
In another section just off Main Street, the stage is set for the Grapestomp competition. Festivalgoers take a shot at stomping as many grapes as possible in a very short period of time in an effort to produce the most grape juice. One of the highlights of this competition is the Mayoral Grapestomp competition, hosted by Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate.
Tate said mayors and city officials from surrounding towns are invited to compete against the Grapevine team. Tate and his partner, City Councilwoman, Diana Raines competed against representatives from Colleyville, Coppell and Irving. After the smoke cleared or should we say, the juice stopped flowing, Mayor Joe Hocutt and City Councilman Mark Skinner were the winners.
Tate speculated that there might have been some funny business prior to the competition. “Someone must be sabotaging our barrels. They put chewing gum in the spout one year,” he said.
The benefactor of Grapefest is the Grapevine Heritage Foundation, which is the caretaker of historic locations like the Palace Theatre and the old Buckner Cash Grocery Store, which has been renovated into an additional performance and meeting facility now known as the Lancaster Theatre. The last and most intact element of Grapevine's 160-year agricultural heritage, the 5.2 acre Thomas Jefferson Nash Farmstead, was purchased by the Foundation in 1992.
If stomping grapes or sampling a couple of dozen different wines isn’t your idea of a good time, Grapefest also features two live band stages, a children’s area and crafters exhibiting their wares. Grapefest lives up to its motto, “More Fun by the Foot.”
Mama Mia, That’s a Good Wine
Messina Hof Winery & Resort is a true gem in Brazos County. Folks who are in the know in the wine business certainly know about Messina Hof. The short drive out Old Reliant Road leads you to a scenic little winery that is the most awarded winery in Texas.
Once you arrive on the grounds of Messina Hof, with its bed and breakfast, gourmet restaurant, and educational wine tours, it is easy to imagine yourself in the Italian wine country. Winemaker Paul Bonnarigo is a sixth generation winemaker with family roots that go all the way back to Messina, Sicily. His wife and winemaking partner Merrill, a gourmet chef, traces her roots back to Hof, Germany, hence the name Messina Hof.
Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo have created a little bit of Sicilian heaven from the 41 acres of Brazos County Lenior grapes. Their unique combination of producing award winning wine from the Lenoir fields and serving world class meals in their intimate, fine dining restaurant are exclamation points on the place where the Bonnarigo’s always seem to be planning for or performing a celebration to showcase wine and food.
The most popular festival is “Harvest,” the annual harvest of the grapes, which takes place for five weekends in July and August. Wine lovers are treated to a full day of activities that start with a quick instructional seminar. Paul explains the dos and don’ts of grape harvesting, then harvesters are issued a knife and lead out to the 40-acres to pick the beautiful Lenoir grapes ¯ the very grapes used to create award winning Papa Paulo Texas Port.
These Ports pack a flavorful punch as the alcohol content is nearly 20 percent. Most Port wine has been fortified with Brandy or another liquor. Messina Hof is one of the few wineries that produce Port without fortifying the wine. Paul explains that the Lenoir or “black” grape produces a dark red juice that has a natural hint of chocolate flavor. “This wine can be made without using any Brandy at all,” Paul said.
Patrons have an added incentive while picking grapes for two hours on the summer morning. Music by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin plays in the background to help motivate and the person who plucks the largest cluster will be designated the Big Kahuna. This is no trivial designation, as Ashley Piper would soon discover.
Entries for the Big Kahuna are displayed before the gathering crowd as each picker vies for their applause. In order to advance, Kahuna wannabes must also demonstrate a talent outside of their grape picking skills. Talents range from break dancing to story telling to poetry recitation. When the final applause wained, Piper was crowned the Big Kahuna.
Piper described her reign as neither a kingdom nor queen Dom, but an entire monarchy. Piper said the obvious advantage to being the Big Kahuna is moving to the front of the line for the restroom and choosing her own time to eat lunch that is included in the activities.
The Harvest culminates in a frenzied session that requires six patrons at a time to stand barefoot in a giant tub of grapes and stomp it down to juice as Paul sings his rendition of an Italian folk song. Each participant then steps out of the tub and onto a new Messina Hof Harvest Crew t-shirt to memorialize there experience with the residue of the juice that will become Port wine over the next two years.
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