by Andrew Chalk
Leanne Holley, editor of Texas Wine and Trail Magazine saw my piece about Go Texan wines being 0% Texas fruit and sent me this picture, taken by wine enthusiast James Freeman, of a billboard next to I-635 in Dallas. According to what it says, Go Texan fruit and vegetables have to be grown in Texas. Why doesn’t the Go Texan program have the same 100% rule for Texas wine?
It can’t be because the wine is made in Texas. A Go Texan wine can be made from two finished California bulk wines shipped in by tanker. Blend them and bottle and label the result in Texas. The operation requires zero winemaking skill. Indeed, the current Go Texan wine rules almost look as though they were set up to encourage any 1.6 GPA college graduate with a large outstanding college loan balance to go out, get a winery permit, and re-label California jug wine as Amoral Red.
Time for the Texas Department of Agriculture to take the rule they correctly applied to fruit and apply it to all fruit (i.e. wine) and make Go Texan wine contain 100% Texas fruit.
Wow…that is deceptive. I never knew that! It ain’t Texas wine if its NOT Texas fruit! That’s like hot sauce made in NYC!
Andrew: Have you verified with the TDA that Go Texan items like jams, jellies and salsas are actually made with 100% Texas grown ingredients? I don’t know; I’m just asking.
If not, what percentage do they have to be? How do we know that the ad people didn’t just use some “creative” liberty here? Dan
I don’t — I am focused solely on the damaging effect of the current Go Texan rules on Texas grape growers and Texas wine makers.
You are absolutely right that the rule may be as nefarious to other Texas producers too, but that is beyond the scope of what I have or can handle. It would be great if other Texas food lovers would take up that cause!
Yeah lets sell that “go texan” jug wine at the local farmers market……
which I will say I have heard people do. Its despicable what is allowed…And I feel that it is a insult to local farmers everywhere to allow the “Go Texan” stamp to not mean 100% Texas fruit!
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