Texas Wine Exports in 1859
“Trade of Western Texas – The Indianola Courier, of the 17th gives a table of the imports and exports for the year ending… of the flourishing port of Indianola on Matagord Bay, where most of the Gulf Coast forwarding trade of Western Texas is done…
The exports were to New Orleans, principally; to New York, Mobile, Pensacola, Biloxi, Havana and Bremen; they were:
- 28,622 bales of cotton, of which 19,304 to this port;
- 1,675 bales of wool;
- 350 hhds. sugar;
- 838 bbls. Molasses;
- 16,002 head of cattle;
- 33,100 hides;
- 187 bales peltries;
- 26,508 bushels pecans;
- 14,151 bushels corn, mostly to Pensacola;
- 992 slabs of Mexican lead;
- 1,126 sundry packages;
- Besides several thousand pounds of Texas bacon, Texas wine in casks, Texas butter, Texas sea island cotton, and Mexican copper;
- Sheep, horses and mules…showing a very large increase over the previous year.
The value of the exports is $2,500,000.”
—- From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 23, 1859.
VintageTexas Note: This is the earliest reference to Texas wine in newspaper articles found thus far. If you know of any that predate this reference to Texas wine in the New Orleans Times Picayune, please let us know.
Yes, this is fascinating, Russ. But do we know how much of it was cabernet and chardonnay?