On A Texas Wine Mission
I need your help to achieve one of my New Year’s Resolutions. I resolve to get more Texas Wines into Texas Restaurants. I have noticed a slight uptick in Texas Wines being present at several Texas Restaurants. I enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Trebbiano wine from Duchman Family Winery near Austin. Salt Grass Steak House also carries some wonderful Messina Hof Wines. Herb and Beet Restaurant in Spring, Texas carries Llano Estacado Wines. When I dine at those establishments which serve Texas Wines, I always order Texas wines to show my support for our great Texas wines. When I dine at a Texas restaurant which does not serve Texas wines, I normally ask the Manager to explain why their restaurant doesn’t serve Texas wines. I get two answers from them as to why they don’t serve Texas wines. First, customers don’t ask for Texas wines. Here is where YOU can assist me. If you encounter a Texas Restaurant which does NOT serve Texas Wine, ask for the Manager to explain WHY!! They will tell you there is not enough demand. However, when you and others as the diners at their restaurants start asking for Texas wines over and over and over, I hope the Restaurant Managers finally get the message. There is a demand for Texas wines.
The other answer I get from Restaurant Managers is that Corporate makes the selections. My response is it appears Corporate does not trust you as their Manager. When this happens to me, I will go to the website of that Restaurant Chain and tell Corporate I want to see Texas wines on their wine menu. Hopefully, if enough of you as my readers of this wine column respond, Corporate Restaurant Managers will get the message. Texas Wines should be readily available to restaurants in Texas since Republic Distributing does a great job in helping to sell and distribute Texas Wines to a multitude of Texas Restaurants. In addition, Texas has Bill Friedhoff from Llano Estacado Winery, the Bonarrigo family from Messina Hof Winery, David Bryce from Becker Winery and others visiting regularly with Texas Restaurants about their Winery’s outstanding Texas Wines. It is up to Texas consumers to show there is a demand for Texas wines in Texas Restaurants. I challenge each of you to ask Restaurant Managers and Corporate why they fail to provide you as the Texas consumer with Texas wines at their Restaurants.
Sid Miller and the Texas Department of Agriculture have a great program in promoting Texas wines, foods, and more in their Go Texan Program. In order for that program to succeed, we as consumers need to let the Restaurants Managers and Corporate know we want Texas wines in their Restaurants.
One of the funniest responses I get from Restaurant Managers is there are not any good Texas Wines out there. Texas wineries are producing outstanding Texas wines made from Texas grapes as evidenced by the myriad of awards including Platinum/Double Gold Medal Wines from many International Wine Competitions. Wineries like William Chris, Kerrville Hills, Bending Branch, Texas Heritage, Becker, Llano Estacado, Driftwood, Duchman and so many more Texas wineries are bringing in oodles of medals. These outstanding Texas wines deserve placement in Texas Restaurants! We as consumers need to urge these Texas restaurants to get Texas wines on those Restaurant Wine Lists. Secondly, Texas Consumers need to buy Texas wines on these Texas Wine Menus to show a strong market for Texas wines. I resolve to get more Texas wines in Texas restaurants. Let’s work together to get more Texas wines into our local restaurants!