[1] Despite being the largest of conterminous states, this relatively small amount of planted land is dwarfed by the production of even the smallest French AOCs like Sancerre.

[5] In the 1650s, Franciscan priest Father Garcia de San Francisco y Zǘñiga, the founder of El Paso, planted Mission vines in West Texas for the production of sacramental wine.

[6] The horticulturist Thomas Munson used Texas vines to create hundreds of hybrid grapes and conducted significant research in finding root stock immune to the Phylloxera epidemic, which saved the French wine industry from total ruin.

The advent of Prohibition in the United States virtually eliminated Texas' wine industry, which didn't experience a revival until the 1970s, beginning with the founding of Llano Estacado and Pheasant Ridge wineries in the Texas High Plains appellation near Lubbock and the La Buena Vida winery in Springtown.

[7] The eastern third of the state makes up the South-Eastern Region which encompasses the area southeast of Austin & San Antonio, and including Houston.

[7] The calcareous soil in the Texas High Plains is characterized as red sandy loam (tiera roja) over caliche (limestone) with moderate low fertility, a terroir similar to that found in Coonawarra in Australia.

The effects of constant wind over the flat terrain serves as a buffer against viticultural diseases such as oidium and powdery mildew.

Mesa Vineyards was the largest wine producer in the state with 500 acres (200 ha) planted near Fort Stockton in West Texas.

First established as an experimental vineyard in 1987 with the University of Texas System, the winery produced wine under multiple labels with the primary brand of Ste.