George Ray McEachern: The Texas Wine Guy

George Ray McEachern

KOV Supreme Knight Dr. George Ray McEachern, Professor of Horticulture at Texas A&M University, is a central figure in the development and growth of the Texas wine industry, and in KOV’s support of this growth. In the early days, he was widely known as “the wine guy,” and with good reason. With a B.S. and M.S. degree in Horticulture from Louisiana State University, he went to Texas A&M in 1969 to work on a Ph.D. and was hired as a half-time faculty member. Initially, Dr. McEachern specialized in growing pecans, but, as the nationwide interest in wine began to emerge, he was called upon to use his horticultural expertise to help launch grape growing in the state of Texas. Then, there was only one vineyard in the state, Val Verde Winery in Del Rio.

Today, nearly 50 years later, there are over 520 wineries in Texas and more than 4500 acres of vineyards planted. Right after his appointment at Texas A&M, Dr. McEachern coordinated planting 23 early vineyards, was a founding member of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association (TWGGA), started an experimental vineyard at Texas A&M, sponsored a “shootout” wine competition between Texas and French wineries with the Texas Department of Agriculture, led Texas winegrowers on educational tours in Burgundy in 1991, Bordeaux 1994, Tuscany in 1998 and Alsace, Mosel, and Rheingau in 2000, taught students who are now leaders in the wine industry today and, by his account, scored over a thousand wines in his classes at Texas A&M and Grayson County College.

Clearly, “the wine guy,” has a long and storied history with Texas wines, and with KOV. He took time to share these stories with us — stories that, basically cover the entire history of Texas wines.

THE ARBOR (TA): Dr. McEachern, it sounds like you hit the ground running when you arrived at Texas A&M. Tell us about that.

GEORGE RAY MCEACHERN (GM): I requested an assistantship at A&M to work on my Ph.D., however, the A&M Director of Extension talked to my major professor at LSU and decided to hire me as an employee of A&M Extension Service working half time with pecan and grape growers and half time on my studies. It was not a normal situation. So, I worked full time while I completed my degree, and finished in three years. That year —1973 — I was recognized as the most outstanding horticulture Ph.D. graduate in the Southern Region of the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.

TA: Initially, you were hired as a pecan specialist. How did you get into wines?

GM: In the early 70s, Texas A&M was planting experimental vineyards in College Station, Seguin, Midland, Overton, and Lubbock. I was asked to share the history of the A&M vineyard program with a group of Houston wine enthusiasts. At that meeting, a wine grower from California was presenting a vertical tasting of his wine and upon hearing our story, he said “I can help” and handed me a check for $1,000 to help get our program going. The next year, they invited me back and wrote me another check. This was before

By Nan McCreary

The Texas Wine Guy

Vinifera varieties. The grower/demonstrators also selected three varieties of their own choice.

The Texas A&M horticulture senior faculty at that time was not in support of new vineyard testing because in the mid 1950s several major Vitis Vinifera tablegrape vineyards in the Texas Winter Garden region southwest of San Antonio had failed due to Pierce’s Disease, Cotton Root Rot, high pH soil issues, and/or freeze. As a result of these total failure vineyards, the 1970s faculty at A&M feared Vitis Vinifera could not be grown in Texas, and they were correct for south Texas. However, Dr. Perry and I did not know if they would fail to live in north and/or west Texas. We decided to establish the test plots and they survived, grew, and produced.

KOV Houston was active. Although it seems it’s not much money, it was huge at the time. TA: During this time, you also helped establish the first commercial vineyards in Texas. Do you consider these the origin of the Texas wine industry?

GM: I would not go that far, because Dr. Ron Perry as a horticulture research technician at Texas A&M was also planting experimental research vineyards at College Station, Midland, Lubbock, and Overton, Texas. I had an Extension test vineyard at Fredericksburg with Mr. Rae Hennon and Duery Menzies, Gillespie county Extension agent. My first major project was in 1974, when I was awarded a $500 grant to purchase vines which were planted in test vineyards across the state. At the time, the only commercial vineyards were Val Verde Winery in Del Rio and Dr. Bobby Smith at Springtown, Texas. Two professors at Texas Tech; Dr. Clinton McPherson in chemistry and Dr. Robert Reed in horticulture also had a research vineyard west of Lubbock.

With the A&M grant and cooperation from A&M County Extension Agents and vineyard demonstrators, we created the test plots, we just discussed, where A&M provided the vines; and grower/demonstrators planted Extension test vineyards with irrigation and all production costs paid by the grower. Since we did not know if wine grapes would live and bear in Texas; we planted three types, three American varieties, three French-American hybrid varieties, and three Vitis

TA: You helped Ed and Susan Auler, who are Supreme Knight and Supreme Lady and members of the Austin Chapter, plant Fall Creek, the first winery in the Texas Hill Country. Were there others?

GM: Initially, I helped plant seven others. It didn’t take long for the news to get out. People said, “Hey, Texas A&M is planting vineyards. Forget about you supplying the money, we’ll pay for everything.” Eventually, I ended up helping plant 23 new vineyards. Everyone wanted in on the ground floor. You have to remember, at the time, America did not really know wine. There was a boom in California — vineyard owners planted 10,000 acres in three years — and other states started planting wine grapes. For Texas A&M, it was our job to help new growers get started. It was what we were hired to do.

TA: What were you planting then?

GM: I had a mentor at the University of California at Davis, Dr. H. P. Olmo, and he said Texas would be a hard go, and we needed to plant the very toughest Vitis Vinifera varieties, which were Ruby Cabernet, French Colombard and Chenin Blanc. Well, these did fantastic. For a while, we stayed with these strong vigorous varieties. But all of the new growers want to grow the top Vitis Vinifera wine varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.

TA: When did Texas begin to get international recognition?

GM: Early on. Around 1974-75, we received a call from the Texas Department of Agriculture in Austin for wine help and they referred them to me. They wanted to arrange a competition between Texas and French wines. I knew about putting on pecan shows, so I agreed to set up a tasting. We called it the “TexasFrench Wine Shootout.” At the time, we only had seven wineries in the state, but we did our thing and we won. Of course, the French were upset, so in the end, in order to encourage further cooperation, we did agree to call the competition a “draw.” But we know we won and, for us, it was the first time we had confidence that we could produce premium wines. It was a career-changing event: One little weekend deal ended up being a big deal in the long run. We had more shootouts — we even did one in Bordeaux where we hauled over seven cases of Texas wine on the airplane, and we did really well.

TA: When did you first become involved with KOV?

GM: Initially, I was involved with two wine associations, KOV Houston (founded in 1978), which was headed by Gaye and Arthur Platt and another one that only did high-end wines. Gaye and Arthur were more interested in Texas wines, and always wanted to know how the new Texas wineries were doing, so I developed a close relationship with them.

continued >>>

TA: The “educational wine tours” to European wine regions provided a great opportunity to Texas winegrowers. What inspired you to do this?

GM: One day I got a call from the president of A&M, asking if I was “the wine guy” and I said, “I guess that’s me!” He explained that Texas A&M had an exchange program for students with Burgundy and that we had been hosting their students, tuition-free, every year, and that he needed some of our students to go to Dijon to study. At the time, we only had one or two per year, so in place of students, we invited Texas wine growers to participate. The first year — 1973 — we had seven Texas winegrowers. Three years later, we went to Bordeaux, and visited the major chateaus. That year, we had 32 winemakers and they were all learning and gaining confidence. In another three years, we visited Tuscany, and then finally, in year 2000, we went to Alsace, Mosel, and Rheingau. By that time, we had gotten the word out, and all of the big wineries in Texas were participating. We were having a good time and we learned a lot. It all started with the A&M Student Exchange Program.

TA: How has KOV impacted Texas A&M’s oenology program?

GM: Big-time. They gave money (laughing). We called it “the envelope.” During KOV events, Gaye and Arthur would tell everyone they were supporting Texas A&M and they’d hand me an envelope from the chapter. For a long time, it was $500. Then I remember attending a KOV function at the Houstonian Hotel for the Sunday Brunch following their Assemblage (when Buddy Hagner had followed Gaye as the Commander for the Houston Chapter) and taking his wife, Trish, aside and saying, “I could sure use $1,000 to send a student to Adelaide, Australia.” The next thing I know she’s giving me a check for $2,500. I was so grateful I almost cried. The money is important, but the main thing is that we’re on the same page. We’re both committed to supporting the wine industry. Our growers have struggled for a long time. Bordeaux and Burgundy put down California because of its “jug wine” reputation, but now California produces the number one quality wine in the world. Today, all Texas wines are outstanding.

TA: How have you used the money that you have received from KOV?

GM: For one thing, we’ve created a vineyard to support research in Pierce’s Disease, which is deadly to grapevines, especially in the south. Through this research, we’ve learned that one grape, Hussman (originally planted in Missouri) can survive the disease and has potential to be an outstanding wine. We just need to plant enough Hussman vineyards so we can make a large volume of wine. We have to come to grips with the fact that, to have a great wine, it doesn’t have to be a Vitis Vinifera. If you can grow this grape all the way from College Station, Texas to Savannah, Georgia, it will explode. In the past, it’s all been California, Oregon and Washington wines or nothing. But who’s to say how a wine is supposed to be? If you can grow it, and it’s good, people will enjoy it.

TA: You have had financial support over the years from Texas wine champions Arthur and Gaye Platt, who established the Arthur and Gaye Platt Research Fund, and you honored them recently by naming your lab the Arthur and Gaye Platt Wine Fermentation Laboratory, which we toured with you today. What is happening there?

GM: Our head winemaker, Dr. Andreea Botezatu, Assistant Professor & Extension Enology Specialist, uses the lab for teaching students. It’s also where she does research on grape flavors, specifically the Black Spanish grape, which never dies from Pierce’s Disease but has a sting when it hits the back of the palate. It’s a fantastic grape, but we need to figure out what causes that problem with the finish. Dr. Botezatu and Dr. Justin Scheiner, along with other viticulture and enology specialists in the state, have received $800,000 grants two years in a row from the Texas State Legislature to support research which improves quality wine production in the state. This support is critical for the growth of wine science in Texas and also for helping all wine growers in Texas grow and produce wine equal to the best in the world.

TA: Clearly, you have been there from the beginning to witness, firsthand, the emergence of Texas wines. What changes have you noticed in the wine industry, in general.

GM: The rise of Texas wines has been dramatic. But the most important part of the wine industry, wherever you are, 100% depends on what goes into the glass. If what goes in the glass is less than perfect, no amount of promoting or advertising is going to help. From 1990 to 2000, we’ve seen more technical improvement in wine quality production than in the entire history of the industry. All of the improvements — including sterile filtration, cultured yeast, temperature control, and stainless steel — have all worked together to create better wines. Today, there are no bad wines. And Texas wines are as good as any in the world.

TA: You have been at Texas A&M for 51 years now. Do you ever plan to retire?

GM: (Laughing) I keep thinking about it, but it just doesn’t happen. Right now, I’m teaching one pecan class, one on wine tasting and one on viticulture. Plus, we have a Pierce’s Disease Tolerance Vineyard that is 20 years old and still going strong. We must never forget, if the weather is perfect for Pierce’s Disease, we could lose a lot of Vitis Vinifer vineyards in Texas. Dr. Schiner is testing new UC-Davis wine cultivars which are 90% Vitis Vinifera with excellent wine quality. He and Dr. Botezatu will be focused on wines from these for the coming years.

TA: You have seen many students come and go over the years. Do these students receive a degree in oenology at Texas A&M?

GM: No, they get their degree in horticulture, with a certificate in viticulture and enology. They have to pass eight courses and pass a test to receive the certificate. You can get a B.S. or a M.S. horticulture degree at A&M, but you have to go to U.C. Davis or Cornell University to get a Ph.D. in viticulture and oenology.

TA: Dr. Mc McEachern, you have been, and are, a wonderful asset to KOV and to the Texas wine industry. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us.