The Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association (TWGGA) met Feb. 23-25 for its 30th annual meeting. As always, its goals were to promote the production and appreciation of premium grapes and fine wines from Texas and to assist its members in creating strategies to achieve those ends.

Executive director Dacota Julson counted the meeting as the most successful yet. "We had more people than we've ever had before," she said. "More attendees, speakers and exhibitors. Plus, the quality of the educational program was the best ever. Besides all the smart people from Texas and moving to Texas, we had more people from out of state attending. That's really important, because we don't have resources in-state for enology like we do for viticulture."

She was quick to point out that, with Senate Bill 1370 offering funding, both Texas A&M and Texas Tech will be launching enology programs in the near future, which means a Texas student who wants to learn about viticulture and enology can finally stay at home for college. The formation of these programs, along with the loosening of funding for the industry both from the senate bill and by Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, has created a palpable excitement in the industry.

The session started with the Toast a Rising Star Tasting. Thirty wineries from around the state, at least half new within the last five years, offered their best wines to pair up with food from 10 of Austin's best restaurants. This session was open to the public, and it was standing room only as the audience had the opportunity to try different wines.

Peppered among the crowd were significant numbers of Texas legislature members and staffers. Julson was beaming over the event's success at attracting the politicians. One reason the public tasting event had been scheduled at the Omni Hotel downtown (the meeting was held at the Austin Airport Hilton) was to attract the Capitol crowd. The strategy worked.

The other goal was to try to get more of the public involved in tasting Texas wines, and several hundred seemed happy to pay the $50 ticket price to sample the wines. An unscientific survey found crowd pleasers in the Lone Oak Merlot, Messina Hof Reserve Merlot, Flat Creek Orange Muscat and the Crossroads Syrah.

Dr. Jim Lapsley of UC Davis tasted everything, and pronounced only about one-third to be worthwhile wines, singling out Becker and Messina Hof as the best. His opinion seemed to be in the distinct minority. Conversely, noted cookbook author and chef Terry Conlon was there, tasting wines for a new list. He felt the wines were almost uniformly good or better.

Most importantly, the public ate and drank it up, staying until the hotel management had to start carting away the tables. It was a successful way to start the gathering.

The next day was devoted largely to the business of wine. After a general session breakfast, Ed Hellman, Ph.D. of Texas Tech University and Texas A&M University, offered a motivating lecture titled "Improving Grape Quality for Improved Wine Quality." He wisely went over the basics to make sure the newbies in the crowd weren't left behind, and then made sure everyone was up-to-date on the latest findings. His most eye-opening revelation was the devastating effect of powdery mildew on vineyard health and wine quality.

He explained that a harvest with just 3% of berries infected with powdery mildew will yield bitter, off flavors that cannot be fixed in the winery. And even diffuse powdery mildew, i.e. the stuff you could only see with a 35x microscope and a strong side light, gives off high levels of volatile ethanol, acetic acid and ethyl acetate that attract insects, many of which carry their own pathogens. Powdery mildew also increases bunch rot. The bottom line from Hellman: "We need to be more aggressive about our powdery mildew control throughout the state."

Lisa Morano, Ph.D., from the University of Houston, gave a detailed and complex talk on the genetic background of Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium that causes Pierce's disease. She took the audience through the arcane science, somehow keeping the crowd laughing and, at the end, fully understanding what she and her students are trying to accomplish. Morano is studying the genesis of Xylella along the Gulf Coast and trying to tease out various strains to see if one beneficial strain actually fights another detrimental strain, with the goal of maximizing the good strains. It is difficult work, made all the more so by the fact that the bacterium grows very slowly. The University of Houston-Downtown is an undergraduate institution, so instead of doctoral students, Morano uses undergrads as assistants.

Perhaps the most important speech was from outgoing Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, who discussed the funding from Senate Bill 1370. Paul Bonarrigo, co-owner of Messina Hof Winery, commented that in the 35 years of the current Texas wine boom, no one in any position in government had done as much as Combs to advance the interests of the wineries, help small farmers create value, push the issues of education and research and put the Texas wine industry on the map.

There were several sessions aimed at marketing, with additions this year from business schools and PR firms, as well as some large wineries and distributors with advice on growing a brand. At the session "Marketing for the Competitive Edge," about 50 winemakers got a mini-master's degree in making the move from tasting room-based sales to general distribution.

Mark Hyman, CEO of Llano Estacado summed it up: "Of the 100-plus wineries in Texas, about 15-20 understand marketing through distributors, and the rest either don't want to do it or don't understand it. We tried to make them understand cutting their prices so the distributor can get their share, doing whatever is necessary to keep the supply of juice on the shelves, and how much work they would have to do as marketers even after they had been picked up by a distributor. I think there were a few surprised folks in the audience."

Guy Stout, MS, CWE from mega-distributor Glazer's, reinforced the importance of working alongside the distributor, and stressed that using a distributor is not for everyone. Stout was a good choice as a panelist: He recently planted his own vineyard and will soon be producing wine, so he was able to speak with authority from both sides of the table.

Several people were honored at the dinner and awards ceremony. The newly created Frank Madla Award, named for the Texas senator responsible for carrying important wine-related legislation in the 2005 session of the legislature, is given for diligence and altruistic promotion of the Texas wine and grape industry through the legislature. The first recipient was Gabe Parker from Homestead Winery, who was also the TWGGA legislative chair.

Senator Frank Madla received the President's Honor Award for all his service from outgoing president Bob Cottle. The T. V. Munson Award for exemplary contributions went to Howard Davies of Oak Creek Vineyard. John Brancato and Gina Puente Brancato of La Bodega Winery received the Louis Qualia Award for pioneering spirit. And the Wine Press Award went to Jeff Siegel from the Fort Worth Star Telegram for service to the industry as a judge and for his interest in non-vinifera grapes.

Planning is underway for meeting No. 31, Feb. 22-23, 2007, in Houston.

(Wes Marshall, author of The Wine Roads of Texas, contributes to the Austin Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News and the San Francisco Chronicle. Contact him through edit@winesandvines.com.)