Small-town hospitality in the Lone Star State

By Tim Fish

Texas Hill Vineyard produces several Italian varietals, including Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio.

The Texas Hill Country wine region starts out just north of San Antonio and stretches halfway to Fort Worth, some 15,000 square miles.

In Texas, as everyone knows, they just don’t do small.

Yet thinking small is the only way to savor a true taste of Texas Hill Country. It’s the second-largest American Viticultural Area, dwarfing any in California, so there’s just too much territory for even an overachiever to cover. Follow the lead of the folks in Austin and Dallas and head to Fredericksburg, one of the Lone Star State’s most charming towns and the hill country’s unofficial capital of food and wine.

Fredericksburg (population 9,000) is an anomaly in rural, small-town America. While its cousins across the country offer Dairy Queens, hamburger joints and, if you’re lucky, a family-run diner, Fredericksburg has dozens of restaurants, a few of which achieve distinction, and two wine bars within walking distance of each other.

Texas Hill Country

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Why Fredericksburg has become popular with the food and wine lovers of Texas is easy to understand if you know the lay of the land.

Hill country has been a refuge for big-city dwellers for decades. It rises gradually up from the plains, offering some relief from the heat and humidity of lowland Texas. Creeks and rivers carve crooked designs into layers of deep limestone. Scrappy oaks and mesquite offer shade, and in the spring and summer, bluebonnets, poppies and other wildflowers cover the countryside like tie-dye.

Located in the heart of all that, just less than a two-hour drive from Austin, Fredericksburg offers its own particular appeal as a destination. It was founded by German settlers in 1846; over the years, as Main Street filled up with gift shops and German restaurants and biergartens, the town’s Willkommen became known throughout the state.

“When we first came here in the early 1980s, you would still hear German spoken in the stores downtown,” David Bland, owner of Settlers Crossing resort, recalls. But the old ways are changing. “The town is definitely in transition,” says Dawn Savanh, whose recently opened restaurant, August E’s, is the latest in the area’s new generation of upscale establishments.

Michael Raymer

Navajo Grill is situated in a modern bungalow near the downtown area.

While German traditions remain a force in the Fredericksburg area, other influences have arrived over the years. The National Museum of the Pacific War, dedicated to World War II hero and native son Adm. Chester Nimitz, began attracting visitors in 1969. The art scene is small but thriving, particularly the Benini Sculpture Ranch in nearby Johnson City, which has 140 acres of large-scale outdoor art. Peach and pecan trees prosper in the area, as witnessed by the many produce stands that line Highway 290.

Spanish missionaries established the first vineyards in the state in 1662, but the modern wine industry in Texas Hill Country began in 1975 when Fall Creek winery, located about 80 miles north of Fredericksburg in Tow, planted its first vines. Today there are 16 wineries scattered around the hills, and it’s possible to visit most of them in a weekend.

One of the first wineries to crop up near Fredericksburg was Grape Creek, which produced its first vintage in 1989. Fredericksburg was approved as an AVA in Texas Hill Country that same year. While tiny by hill-country standards, it’s almost as large as Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County, though the two regions are dramatically different. The growing season in hill country is considerably warmer while having less sunshine and more rain and humidity. Pierce’s disease has become a threat, forcing wineries such as Grape Creek and Fall Creek to replant vineyards.

The guesthouses at Settlers Crossing are decorated with country-style antiques.

It’s not a terroir that seems particularly suited to producing world-class wine, but Texans don’t give up easily. While Texas ranks fifth in the nation in terms of volume of wine produced, the quality of the wine continues to lag behind that of other high-volume U.S. regions. The Germans popularized sweet wines around Fredericksburg, and many wineries continue to specialize in Ports and sugary versions of Muscat Canelli and other wines. Some producers, such as Alamosa Wine Cellars and Fall Creek, manage to make clean, easy-to-drink dry whites when the vintage cooperates.

One success story in hill country is Becker, in Stonewall. Richard Becker and his wife, Bunny, started the winery in 1992 and have since planted 50 acres of vines, everything from Viognier and Syrah to Chardonnay and Petit Verdot. Even though Becker has a busy career as an endocrinologist in San Antonio, the winery is a hands-on affair. He does most of the winemaking, having cobbled together a collection of used equipment, and he even designed much of the winery himself. “Our kids call this Chāteau Shoestring,” Becker says.

Despite the limitations, Becker is producing some good wine. The best so far include the hearty Texas Port, a Bordeaux-style claret and a Cabernet-Syrah blend that gushes pure fruit.

For the inns and restaurants of the area, the wineries play an essential role in making the region a popular destination.

“Probably 80 percent of our guests go to wineries,” says Patti Vander Lyn, innkeeper at Rose Hill Manor. “It’s huge with them.”

While Fredericksburg is nearly overrun by motels and bed-and-breakfasts, Rose Hill and Settlers Crossing are the premier accommodations. Settlers Crossing is unique, a small village of historic houses and log cabins that have been restored and decorated with homey country antiques. Rose Hill is an attractive plantation-style inn that’s also home to one of the city’s best restaurants, Austin’s.

Michael Roche

Cuvee, located on the downtown drag, is a sophisticated wine bar with about 140 wines on the menu.

Eating seems to be one of the main activities in town, and there’s plenty of wienerschnitzel and fried catfish to be had. Yet restaurants such as August E’s and Navajo Grill are raising the quality bar with contemporary Southwestern menus that incorporate worldwide influences.

If there’s room for improvement at Fredericksburg restaurants, it’s in the wine lists. The pickings can be downright slim, although the lists do reliably offer a smidge from Texas, California and France, and prices are generally reasonable. The best wine experiences are to be found at the two wine bars, Cuvee and Lincoln Street.

Maybe sommeliers and better wine cellars will be the next evolution in Fredericksburg; as the town becomes increasingly gentrified and an influx of discriminating visitors spurs the need for new hotels, golf courses and high-end shops, it would be a logical step. Fredericksburg, after all, is a small town that’s accustomed to thinking big. But then, it is in Texas.