by Andrew Chalk
Yesterday, I reported the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) decision regarding my proposed change to the rules covering the use of the ‘Go Texan’ logo on wine. I interpreted their response as first: no change in the status quo (i.e. 0% Texas grapes required in Texas wines); second: I concluded that a paragraph that contained the sentence “Specifically, we will implement those ideas to limit the use of the mark on wine bottles based on the origin of the fruit.” was empty of meaning as the letter did not announce any specific measures to do so.
The TDA reacted quickly with an email today in which they totally reject my interpretation of their original letter. That paragraph that I had treated as an imprecise dismissal of changes in Go Texan was apparently the operational paragraph of the letter. In full, they said:
Mr. Chalk,
Your most recent article regarding the GO TEXAN program not only incorrectly interpreted TDA’s position, but it did so in direct and complete conflict to the sentence in the letter pointing to TDA’s position. Not only is there not one word in the letter indicating TDA has decided to continue allowing the use of the GO TEXAN mark on wine without regard for the origin of the grapes, but the piece of the letter addressing that matter indicates the exact opposite. I call your attention again to the below sentence in the letter, which speaks very clearly and contradicts your interpretation:
“Specifically, we will implement those ideas to limit the use of the mark on wine bottles based on the origin of the fruit.”
Sincerely yours, Mary York Administrator Marketing and International Trade Texas Department of Agriculture
I am absolutely delighted that I was wrong when I said that the status quo ante (0% Texas grapes) continues. I am also delighted that the department has decided to limit the use of the Go Texan logo based on the origin of the fruit. That is a new ground rule (no pun intended) for wine under the Go Texan program. I have a question in to the department as to whether they have staff already working on rules to implement this and what the time frame is, but had not heard back by deadline. I decided to go ahead and post the above letter from the department as it is important.
Exactly how “the origin of the grapes” will be incorporated into the rules still remains to be seen, but this is news that the Texas wine industry and its supporters should be cautiously optimistic about.
