Make your voice Heard: Deadline Nears for 2nd Round Comments on GoTexan Wine Rules

Make your voice Heard: Deadline Nears for 2nd Round Comments on GoTexan Wine Rules

…Texas consumers need honest labeling. Texas grape growers deserve support from Texas wineries. New GoTexan rules and an end to For Sale in Texas Only with help on both counts.

I don’t want to beat this topic to death (any more than it already has been beat).  However, if you have:

• An interest in fair and honest labeling of Texas wine and use of the GoTexan logo, and
• An opinion on the amount of Texas grapes needed to qualify the wine to be a Texas wine,

please send a simple email voicing your opinion on GoTexan wine rules no later than Monday, February 10th, 2014. This is the deadline for the 2nd Round commenting. If you wish to submit a comment, or an additional comment, send it by e-mail to gotexan@TexasAgriculture.gov. The text from my 2nd round comment to the TDA GoTexan Program is given at the bottom of this blog.

Dallas-based wine writer Andy Chalk has been riding point on this matter for the past few months, started the petition to the TDA goTexan program for a rule change, and has nicely summarized the issues and the consequences.

For the background, click here and you will go to his CraveDFW blog titled “Go Texan: 80% Of Consumers Favor The 100% Rule”. He has also summarized the comments by category and rule preference, which I have reformatted and posted at the top of this blog.

The results indicate:

• 59% of wineries and 100% of Texas politicians want to keep it at 0% Texas grapes are needed to qualify the wine for GoTexan labeling.
• 85% of consumers want to change the requirements to 75 – 100% Texas grapes are needed to qualify the wine for GoTexan labeling.
• 100% of Texas grape growers want to change the requirements to 75 – 100% Texas grapes needed to qualify the wine for GoTexan labeling

Sounds like a majority of the 1st round responders want stricter GoTexan requirements on wine carrying the GoTexan logo that are in close alignment to the Federal requirement of at least 75% Texas grapes needed to qualify a wine to be labeled as Texas appellation (a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown). If we look at the preferences a different way, it is even more obvious what the results from 1st round say… It appears plainly simple from the 1st round results: only 38% of the comments favored keeping the 0% rule, while 56% of the comments favored making the rule 75 to 100% Texas grapes.

It is interesting to me that the Texas Department of Agriculture GoTexan officials decided that a 2nd round of comments was needed. It also surprises me that they would not support the consumers interests for clear and accurate labeling and follow the federal TTB labeling requirements that apply in Texas and all other American states.

Furthermore, I thought that the Texas Department of Agriculture would be in favor of promoting a Texas agricultural product (grapes) rather than wineries that would like to import bulk California wine and slap a GoTexan logo on the bottle thus giving the appearance of it being a Texas wine. But, then again, maybe I see things differently because I’m not a Texas politician or a GoTexan official working in Austin.

If you did not provide your opinion in the 1st round comments, it is important that you do so in the 2nd round, no later than this Monday (February 10th – the end of the 30 day comment period). It is a simple and easy way to make your opinion known. Then, we can hopefully put this issue to rest.

If you have already commented in the 1st round, just sit back, put your feet up and have a sip of real Texas wine.

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If you want to review the complete proposal and request for 2nd round comments from the TDA GoTexan Program, click here: TDA Go Texan Notice.

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Here is a copy of my email to the TDA GoTexan Program:

Dear TDA GoTexan Program:

I am in favor of fair, honest and accurate labeling for all products. Allowing wineries to use the GoTexan Logo on wine that is made primarily from non-Texas grapes does not accomplish any of these three mandates.

I am in favor of using the well-established and accepted federal TTB regulations that determine the appellation of origin for wines in all states including Texas. This is the 75% rule that requires a minimum of 75% of the grapes used in a wine that carries a state’s appellation. The same should be mandated for a wine that includes the use of the GoTexan logo.

This approach, based on 75%, is better and more workable than a 100% rule. The 75% rule provides 25% margin for wineries to use grapes from other sources if and when needed due to the year-to-year variations in harvest conditions and availability of wine grapes within the state.

Dr. Russell D. Kane