MISSION - The Rio Grande Valley, best known for grapefruit, palm trees and winter Texans, is quietly adding an intoxicating facet to its image: winemaking.

Through research over the last 15 years at Rio Farms Inc. and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the work of determined growers like Jorge Jaber, wine-grape production is mushrooming in a region where many once thought it impossible.

Wine grapes, particularly such European varieties as chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, typically need a more moderate climate than the Texas-Mexico border can boast. They also are partial to areas that cool off in the evening and have timely rains.

Between that and the prevalence of a bacterial blights like Pierce's disease and cotton root rot, the consensus has been that the Valley could not grow grapes for commercial wine production until a new variety Blanc Du Bois, which was released to growers in 1987, and an older variety, Black Spanish or Lenoir, proved their ability to coexist with Pierce's disease.

'Great potential'

No one is saying Texas' Valley will be the next Napa Valley, but Jaber's winery, Jaber Estate Winery, already is producing wine from grapes grown on site, and more wineries are planned.

"I think there's great potential," said Fritz Westover, a viticulture program specialist with the extension service who expects continued growth in the sector.

Wine-grape growing in the area can be traced back to an order of nuns that made wine for Catholic services in the mid-19th century and continued on and off through the 20th century - but never at the volume or with the quality now believed possible.

"We can grow grapes at comparable tonnages to other areas. The question was, can you make good wine from those grapes?" said Andy Scott, research director at Rio Farms, a private research center that has helped many of the area's 15 or so growers get started.

Some Valley farmers grow grapes and make wine for personal consumption and gifts. Others grow grapes and ship them to wineries for production. Jaber, at 80, is considered the first in the area to grow grapes and convert that fruit himself into wine for commercial consumption.

View post:
South Texas vineyards starting to sip at success