Eyes of Texas Are Upon the Grape

It may be hard to imagine a dust-covered, chaps-bedecked cowpoke ridin’ in off the range, hopping down from his steed and asking for a Sauvignon Blanc.

Be assured that the folks at what has been called Domaine Texas don’t envision that image either.

In fact, Domaine Cordier--the real but most un-Texas-like name of the ranch--hopes to appeal to the growing number of sophisticated wine lovers in Texas’ major cities as well as a curious national and international market that wonders, “Can Texas grow fine wine grapes?”

Well, perhaps no one really wonders about that at present, but after the first wines of this new property have been released, interest should be sufficient to sell all that’s being made on the range, somewhere south of Odessa.

The first wines of Domaine Cordier will be released to the market in a month. They were unveiled last week in Dallas and by judicious use of the U.S. mail and telephone, I not only have tasted the wines but I have also interviewed the key people responsible for them.

The first wines, which will be distributed in California through Seagram’s Chateau and Estates division, include a Sauvignon Blanc ($7.50), a Chardonnay ($12) and a Fume Blanc ($8.50), all from the 1988 vintage. A line of red wines is to be released next year.

The white wines are well made, with the accent on freshness. I preferred the Sauvignon Blanc to the others. It offers a typical grassy/herbal aroma and crisp, citrusy aftertaste. The Fume Blanc, which was aged in oak, is more herbal and complex, but a bit disjointed at present. The Chardonnay is a light-styled wine with little perceptible oak, and a delicate finish.

Domaine Cordier made 4,000 cases of the Chardonnay, 10,000 cases of the Sauvignon Blanc and 4,000 cases of the Fume Blanc. That may seem like a lot of wine, but it’s really piddling compared to what the property could have made.

That is because total vineyard plantings thus far are Texas-size: 1,000 acres outside the southwest Texas city of Ft. Stockton. This means Domaine Cordier could easily produce 250,000 cases of wine by itself, should it choose, and very well may when grapevines are fully mature and producing a full crop. Most have been planted in the last five years.

Wine lovers know the name Cordier. It is the huge French firm that owns such world-renowned Bordeaux properties as Chateau Gruaud-Larose, Chateau Talbot, Chateau Meyney and others in Bordeaux.

In addition, Cordier, which does more than half its business in exports, also owns two properties in Vouvray and two more in Sancerre and was a logical choice to invest in the germinating Texas wine industry because it has worked on experimental wine-growing projects in such remote and hitherto hostile climates as Venezuela, Thailand, and Brazil.

Moreover, the French firm owns Cordier Coutras, 50 miles from Bordeaux, a giant production facility that makes wines for the French table wine market. It also produces some base wines for sekt (German sparkling wine) sold to Germany. It processes about 4.5 million gallons of wine each year.

Grape growing and wine making began in Texas in the early 1970s after a feasibility study done for Texas A&M; University showed that fine wine grapes could be grown in West Texas. Soon, experimental vineyards were planted through the University of Texas on a high plateau east of El Paso.

The region around Lubbock became an early producer of fine wine in Texas. Lubbock, in the Texas hill country in the northern part of the state, is an hour’s drive east of the border to New Mexico, which surprisingly has a long and rich wine history of its own.

A second region that showed promise, about 1978, was in Tow, about 90 miles northwest of Austin in the center of the state, adjacent to Buchanan Lake. There, Ed and Susan Auler began to make fine wine from both French and French-American hybrid grape varieties. Today their Fall Creek winery is one of the state’s best and most consistent.

The Cordier property developed by the University of Texas about 250 miles southwest of Lubbock--and just 100 miles from the Mexican border--was originally a joint venture between local interests and Cordier, which acted as consultant and was a 24% owner.

The venture marketed wines under the brand name Ste. Genevieve (who was the saint of Paris). Despite the desert-type climate in Pecos County, the region had a built-in bonus: very cool nights.

So instead of fast-maturing, overripe grapes, one could count on a long growing season similar to the fine wine regions of the world. Also, on this 3,000-foot high plateau, there was no rainfall late in the growing season and no humidity to fret over, meaning that rot, a feared enemy of wine makers, was non-existent.

Indeed, in the Lubbock area to the north, rot devastated many of the early winery projects, their owners failing to recognize the severity of the problem. One Texas wine maker told me recently, “The good ol’ boys would rather go huntin’ and fishin’ than spray to keep the mold down, and then the grapes’d come in so black and rotten you couldn’t make a decent wine with ‘em to save your life.”

For various reasons, the Ste. Genevieve wines didn’t sell and in 1987 Cordier agreed to take over complete control of the project.

Jean-Louis Blanc of Etablissments Cordier in France, who was in Texas to launch the new brand, said he felt the Texas vineyards had the potential to make great wine, not merely interesting wine.

“My first impression is that Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon (Blanc), and Chenin Blanc will be the best varieties,” he said.

Unique in this project is a drip-irrigation system in which each vine gets the appropriate amount of water, doled out by a computer in France.

“We control the water by use of an electronic system,” said Blanc.”There is a sensor on the vines that measures the amount of water in the vine. This sensor speaks to a computer at the winery that is connected to a computer in France, which determines the (water) need of the vine.”

The Ste. Genevieve brand, launched in 1984, will continue to be seen in Texas as a lower-priced wine. And other Domaine Cordier wines will be available only in Texas.

Cordier markets wines in 52 countries and David Milligan, president of Chateau and Estates, said he would show the wines to the trade at the huge VinExpo wine show in Paris in June. He said there is already interest in Scandinavia and Japan.

Measure of Fame

Besides Auler’s Fall Creek project (which is now beginning to market its wines in California), Bobby Cox’s Pheasant Ridge winery near Lubbock has achieved a measure of fame with some worthy Chardonnays and Cabernets. They are, alas, priced so high (about $20 a bottle) that even the well-heeled have to swallow hard to support a fellow Texan.

Despite problems experienced by some Texas hill country wineries, a number have achieved success. One of the largest is Llano Estacado, which has broad distribution in Texas but little in California.

One of the more energetic projects to surface recently is a winery called Teysha, an Indian word meaning friend. It is a project of Clint McPherson and his son, Kim. Clint was a founder of Llano Estacado and Kim was wine maker there before both left the partnership.

$13 Million Invested

Cordier is taking its Texas project seriously. It has invested $13 million and has brought in a wine-making team from France, Lucien Viaud to direct the vineyard and assist in wine making and Jean Louis Haberer as head wine maker.

“We are all very excited,” said Milligan. “We’re trying to produce something that is world class, something that will compete with anybody.”

Wines of the Week: Preston Vineyards Estate White and Estate Red ($5 each)--This is what inexpensive table wines should be. Rather than buy some sweetish wine called Chardonnay (that may have as much as 75% Chardonnay), try the Preston Estate White, a blend of four varieties that offers a spicy aroma and broad yet dry aftertaste. The red, which is 77.5% Carignane and the rest Zinfandel, is a light-bodied, chillable wine that goes great with pasta. A berryish note is appealing. (Bonus points to the first person who correctly finds the misspelled word on the back label of the Estate White. Answer in a few weeks.)