Confused by Texas wine? Didn’t know that the state had more than 200 wineries? Never had a chance to taste Texas wine?

You can change all that at the Texas Wine Garden, which will be open for the run of the 2010 State Fair of Texas at Fair Park. The state’s award-winning wines and wineries will be highlighted every day during a series of wine talks in the garden, given by John Bratcher and Jeff Siegel, the Two Wine Guys. They will interview Texas’ leading winemakers, grape growers and personalities - not only answering those questions and offering an insider’s look at Texas wine, but giving fair goers a chance to taste Texas wine with the people who make it.

“The next big thing in the wine business isn’t taking place in California or France,” says Siegel, a nationally known wine writer who does The Wine Curmudgeon blog. “It’s taking place in places like Texas, because people want to drink local wine. It’s the same reason they want to eat local food.” In fact, Texas is one of the most important wine regions in the United States:

• There are more than 200 wineries, including almost 70 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In 2000, there were only about 60 wineries in the entire state. • It is the fifth largest wine producing state in the country, behind California, Washington, Oregon and New York
• The modern Texas industry started in the mid-1970s, with Dr. Bobby Smith at La Buena Vida, Doc McPherson at Llano Estacado and Ed and Susan Auler at Fall Creek. But wine has been made in the state for almost 500 years.
• Texas wines are becoming famous for a certain style and approach, and they are increasingly made with grapes best suited to the state’s unique climate – Rhone varieties like syrah, grenache, mouvedre, viognier; Spanish varieties like tempranillo; Italian varieties like sangiovese, and hybrids and native grapes like blanc du bois and black Spanish.

The State Fair of Texas opens September 24.  The Wine Garden is located along Nimitz Avenue in Nimitz Court (across from Creative Arts).   Hours are from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m each Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  The garden closes at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays.