Texas early wine makers

Jeff Carroll, in the “1880 Tom Munson’s Grapes” chapter of his “Being Texan” book, states: “No one knows who invented wine. It’s been around for at least 4,000 years and is traditionally made by the fermentation of grape juice. Actually, you can make wine out of almost anything that will ferment, and I once tried some turnip wine that wasn’t all bad.”

In 2009, when Carroll published “Big Texan,” it was reported that Texas ranked fifth or sixth nationally in wine production. A check today in 2021 reveals there are over 400 Texas wineries which ranks fifth in the nation with a 13 billion plus industry.

But, back to Tom Munson. He was born in 1843 in Astoria, Illinois, with his life and education leading him to Kentucky, where he earned a degree from the Kentucky State Agricultural College, now University of Kentucky. One of Munson’s professors interested him in grapes and viniculture.

Munson’s younger brother, William, had come to Texas in 1872 helping to establish the town of Denison in Grayson County on the site of an old Butterfield Overland stage line stop. It also became a stop on the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad. Four years later, in 1876, Tom and his wife Ellen joined up with his brother and opened a nursery.

“Soon,” Carroll says, “Tom became the world’s leading authority on native Texas grapes, recognized for his classification and understanding of all grapes in general.”

Overtime, Munson claims to have traveled through 40 states and territories, and over 50,000 miles by “railway and many hundreds more on horseback and on foot.” As he traveled, he studied thousands of vines of nearly every species of American grape where they grew in their own natural habitats.

In the early 1880s, the French renowned winemakers had their grape vines struck by a tiny insect, phylloxera. This critter bored its way into the roots causing the roots to enlarge and strangle themselves dead. Entire French vineyards were “wiped out”.

Previously, French vintner Pierre Viala, himself a leading authority on viniculture, had corresponded with Munson in Texas. Munson knew that this insect could not be destroyed. His solution was to experiment by “grafting the desirable strains of grapes onto a rootstock resistant to the insect.”

Munson grafted onto the native Texas Mustang Grape and soon a shipment of rootstock left Central Texas for France. The experiment worked. The French wine industry was saved and again exported all over the world including America.

Eight years later, in 1888, Pierre Viala, now the French Minister of Agriculture, personally came to Denison. He conferred onto Munson the title “Chevalier du Merit Agricole” and inducted him into the French ‘Legion du Honor.’ It was France’s highest civilian award (only one other American is reported to having received such an award, Thomas A. Edison).

Meantime, in 1885, Munson’s classification system was presented at the New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exposition and officially adopted by the American Horticultural Society. After the turn of the century, Munson published a book, “Foundations of American Grape Culture”, in 1909. It became the authorized viniculture throughout the United States.

Before Munson died in 1913 of pneumonia, there were over 300 new grape varieties created by his hybridizing experiments.

Jeff Carroll’s book, “Being Texan,” is available by contacting Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See our website: www.tworiversheritagefoundation.org.

Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. For more information on the Two Rivers Heritage Foundation or to become a member, go to www.tworiversheritagefoundation.org.