Bobby Cox planted one of the first commercial vineyards in post-Prohibition Texas, back in February of 1972. Reminiscent of the old question about who ate the first oyster, you have to wonder what made Bobby, along with fellow pioneers Doc McPherson and Roy Mitchell – start growing wine grapes in what would come to be the Texas High Plains AVA, an area which was better known for cotton and cattle.

The area is bone-dry and prone to tornadoes, annual hailstorms and 120 degree temperature shifts. A lot of people thought Bobby Cox had lost his mind. That was, until 1986, when his 1983 Pheasant Ridge Winery Cabernet Sauvignon won the Gold Medal at the San Francisco Fair and Wine Competition (Doc McPherson’s son Kim, also won a Double Gold at San Francisco that year for his 1984 Llano Estacado Slaughter-Leftwich Vineyard Chardonnay). Suddenly, Bobby looked brilliant.

Bobby put his blood, sweat and tears into the Pheasant Ridge Winery. But after a couple of years of lean harvest, he had to borrow from the bank to stay afloat. In 1992, the bank decided to take the winery away from Bobby and sell it. Bobby took it hard, but jumped back into the fray, this time as a consultant to the many West Texas farmers considering viticulture. They were sick of fighting the cotton fields for no profit, and encouraged by Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs’s stance supporting grape farming as both highly profitable and supporting the preservation of the family farm. Bobby’s years of experience in the area is a priceless commodity, one that a lot of farmers are gladly using.