It’s not every day you get to meet the man who grows the grapes that make up your favorite wine. The very guy who painstakingly plans throughout the year on when to irrigate, when to prune, when to net the vineyards, what to do when there’s a hail, heavy winds, late freezes and scorching heat. (And I’m probably only scratching the surface of what goes into vineyard management, aka grape farming.) So it’s a particularly special treat when one of the most well known grape growers in the state joins you (and a restaurant full of other wine lovers) for a dinner paired with wines made from grapes from his vineyards.

Such was the case Thursday evening when Neal and Janice Newsom of Newsom Vineyards trekked some few hundred miles down from the Lubbock area to Fredericksburg for a special dinner in their honor at the Cabernet Grill; a restaurant known not only for its great Texas fare, but for its Texas-only wine menu.

Newsom comes from a cotton family with dating back for more than 100 years in either growing the ubiquitous row crop or managing the cotton gins that helped produce the commodity. It was a path he originally began to take in his younger career helping his father manage a West Texas cotton gin and small cotton farm before following a bit of inspiration he received in college from Texas Tech professor and Texas Wine pioneer Dr.Roy Mitchell and planting his first acreage of grape in 1986; a vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon.

At the celebratory vintner’s dinner at Cabernet Grill, winemakers from across the state gathered with a dining room full of more than 70 guests to applaud Newsom for his Texas-sized leap of faith almost 30 years ago. In attendance was Gary Gilstrap of Texas Hills Vineyard who presented a beautiful Pinot Grigio and Sangiovese from Newsom’s stock as well as Cord Switzer of Fredericksburg Winery who was one of Newsom’s first buyers. (And one of the first to gain Texas wine recognition with a silver medal from the Chicago International Wine competition with a dessert Orange Muscat wine from Newsom Vineyards.) Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estate Vineyards spoke briefly on Newsom’s contribution to Texas wine industry saying “I’ve done a lot of research across North America and I can promise that there are no better grapes than from Newsom Vineyards–hands down.”

And the proof was in the pudding, or at least in the wine pairings for the evening dinner:

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

with Roasted Pepitas and Tabasco Creme Fraiche

Texas Hills Vineyard 2010 Pinot Grigio

Pasilla Chile and Cassis Braised Buffalo Short Rib

with Smoked Onion Grits and Fresh Horseradish Gremolata

Bar Z 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Intermezzo: Texas Hills Sangiovese Sorbet

Beeman Family Ranch Texas Prime Wagyu Strip Steak

with Maytag Bleu-Whipped Potatoes and Porcini Roasted Shallot Cream

Inwood Estates 2008 “Cornelious” Tempranillo

Chocolate Resurrection

with Blood Orange and Mexican Vanilla

Fredericksburg Winery 2002 Late Harvest Orange Muscat

I caught up with Neal at the dinner and asked him a few questions about his part in the Texas wine industry. Here’s what he had to say:

TM WINE: Why did you decide to make the transition to grapes?

Newsom: I guess there were several things. I’ve always been fascinated by alternative or secondary crops and there’s not a whole lot that works in this part of the world. I guess Dr. Mitchell was an inspiration. And Llano Estacado Winery was up and running pretty well by then. I’d started researching and told my dad, “Heck, if it’s half as good as they say it is, it’s better than cotton.” At first he wasn’t going along with it, but when I placed my first order to plant as an experiment, my parents decided they’d plant a few too. They’ve always been part of the business with me on their own property a few miles away from us.

TM WINE: You planted Cabernet Sauvignon at first. What made you think it would have a shot in Texas?

Newsom: It was a big experiment and we weren’t sure it would work. But it doesn’t hurt to get lucky every one in a while. We have a pretty high altitude–higher than most elevations in areas of California where they grow grapes–and the land we owned had shallow, low vigor soils, which are the two elements you need for growing grapes. And with the semi-arid climate we’re in, we have almost no disease issues like you have with cotton. Instead, we’ve swapped disease issues for weather. In Texas it’s either too wet, too dry, too hot or too cold.

TM WINE: Is it more expensive to grow grapes than cotton?

Newsom: Technically, grapes are much more expensive to grow per acres, but the dollar yield per acre is much higher than with cotton. Grapes take so much less water than other conventional crops. You get more band for the gallon and even with our aquifer situation, which is depleting in West Texas, we could still grow grapes here indefinitely. Beginning next year, cotton farmers are having to face the fact that they will not be able to irrigate their crops. We don’t have that problem with grapes.

TM WINE: Do you have anyone who helps you with the vineyards?

Newsom: Well, without my wife Janice, I would just be a spec of dust floating in the atmosphere. She’s always around to offer a glass of tea or wine to winemakers and visitors when they drop by. And more than that, her support over the past 32 years has been amazing.

My son, Nolan, came back home after graduating college and being in the work world for a couple of years. After college, the country starts looking better, just like it did for me. With his help, we’ve planted more grapes this year than ever for a new season with 15 new acres. And we plan another 15 for 2012.

TM WINE: Did you and do you still use consultants for grape growing? I know Bobby Cox has been out in the High Plains for a long time originally as a winemaker, but now as a viticultural consultant to a lot of grape growers.

Newsom: Bobby Cox has been a great mentor for me. He was growing grapes back when I was worrying about a date for Senior prom. We’ve formed a great friendship with Bobby and his wife over the years. As a former winemaker, he sees both sides of the equation in grape growing.

A lot of the wineries I work with also help in consulting on how they want the grapes that  they’re buying from me. It’s because of different winemakers that I’ve worked with over the years that I’ve planted so many varieties that I had never heard of. We took a huge leap of faith to plan Tempranillo when Dan Gatlin of Inwood Estates Vineyards asked me to, but he was willing to stick his neck out for the investment. Now it’s one of my favorite grapes to grow.

Even though Cabernet Sauvignon has always been our backbone it’s not the easiest varietal to grow. Tempranillo is probably my favorite as well as Malbec, They’re consistent producers even on bad years when they’ll somehow hang on and still make a  little bit.

TM WINE: Who was buying grapes from you first? How many others at first?

Newsom: The first few wineries that bought grapes from me the first couple of years I was growing didn’t even last a year or two. There was one in Garden City out in the middle of nowhere and one in San Antonio called Alamo Farms that only lasted about a year. But then we started selling to Fredericksburg Winery and Becker Vineyards and later to Texas Hills, Flat Creek and Llano Estacado. Things really started going for us in the early 90s.

1992 was the last year we hand-harvested. It took 60 people 5 days to hand harvest 18 acres of grapes. Then we began machine harvesting and we completed the same acreage in 23 hours. So, kaboom! We were able to plant more acreage and harvest faster, and our winery list began to really grow.

Right now we’re working with: Llano Estacado, Bar Z Winery, Sunset Winery, Lightcatcher Winery, Calais Winery, Inwood Estates Vineyards, San Martino Winery, Becker Vineyards, Fredericksburg Winery, Bending Branch Winery, Pedernales Cellars, Texas Hills Vineyard, Flat Creek Estate and there are a few new ones coming on in the next year.

TM WINE: What are some of the wines you’ve been most proud of that have come from your vineyards?

Newsom: I’d nearly rather pick my favorite kid than my favorite wine. We’ve had some outstanding wines made from every varietal from every winery we work with.

The Inwood Estates Vineyards Tempranillo is amazing and so is the dessert Orange Muscat from Fredericksburg Winery. Becker has done amazing things with our Cabernet and Texas Hills has made a great Cab Franc from us. Oh, and the Flat Creek Super Texan has a large percentage of grapes from us. And the Cabernet Sauvignon from Llano Estacado is pretty great too. There are too many to choose from, really.

They’ve all put us on the map. I appreciate what they do. And I have to say, I’m glad I’m not in wine marketing. There’s a lot of international competition and I really don’t know how they stay in business sometimes.

TM WINE: What has been the most rewarding part of being in the Wine Industry for you?

Newsom: Things like the wine pairing dinner at Cabernet Grill. The wineries we work with have always made us part of their family. You can go almost anywhere and when people find out you’re related to the wine industry that’s the subject for the rest of the conversation.I love that. I can talk grapes until the cows come home.

It’s also great to go to sit down in a restaurant that you’ve never been to and see your name on the wine list. That’s something I never would have imagined. But it’s pretty neat.

TM Wine: The Most challenging?

Newsom: This last summer was the summer from Hell. I hope we don’t ever have to do that again. The heat and drought put us about a month ahead of schedule for harvest. The heat made the plants mature quickly, which gave us a light crop. But the good news is, the winemakers can’t believe what they got. It’s 15 percent of normal yield but 2011 will be one of those years we’ll mark on the wall some day for Texas wine.

TM WINE: What needs to happen in order for Texas to get to the next level in recognition not only nationally but also for Texans to drink their own wine?

Newsom: That’s a tough one. The bad news is that we started our wine renaissance just in time for the repression to hi. When the recession is over with, it’s going to be a boom time again for Texas wine.

We need some kind of a phenomena like California had. Where we can prove without a doubt what we can make here. We need something that will make the media take it and run with it. We’ve done California. We’ve done Chile and Argentina… Now, it’s our turn.

- Jessica Dupuy

Tagged: Bar Z, Cabernet Grill, Fredericksburg Winery, Inwood Estates Vineyards, Jessica Dupuy, Neal Newsom, Newsom Vineyards, Texas Hills Vineyards, texas wine