As I mentioned Wednesday, my wife and I were all but packed to head to Spain for a couple of weeks as we were excited to practice being empty nesters, essentially what we want to be when we grow up.

Sure, our younger son still has another two and a half years before he (hopefully) heads off to college and we are bracing for the possibility that our older son will move back in with us after he graduates next year (shudder). But we figure at that point, he would essentially be a tenant and we could come and go as we please.

The younger son was going to be on a school trip to South Africa for ten days, so we were going to skedaddle to Spain; one week together in Seville and then I was going to spend another week riding my bicycle in Girona.

Perfect.

Almost.

It seems the weather gods had a different plan for that week in Seville with nearly a 95% chance of rain every day. So, just a few hours before we were to take off, we canceled the trip. It was a pretty easy decision, but we were left with all this time without kids and since we both suffer from wanderlust, we had to go somewhere.

The only conditions were that the weather had to at least be comparable to what it would be like in Houston (March and April are perhaps the best months out of the year to be in the Bayou City). We figured there was not enough time to pull something together outside of the country, so we further limited our search to within a day’s drive of our front door.

We ended up packing up the car and heading west to Fredericksburg, Texas, a small town west of Austin in the “Texas Hill Country” that is widely accepted as the center of the Texas wine scene. It is also considered, apparently, a hub of Texas cycling, so it certainly checked a few boxes for us.

My wife found us a nice Air B&B on the edge of town and while no one would confuse three days in Fredericksburg with two weeks in the south of Spain, we couldn’t have been happier with the few days we spent there. And even though it was not part of the plan, the Texas wildflowers were in full bloom, making for some fairly spectacular riding.

I was able to get a couple of rides in (it was a bit rainy one day–I don’t ride in the rain), both about 45 miles. On the first ride, I headed north of town on largely quiet roads dotted with cattle ranches and loaded with wildflowers.

For the second ride, I headed south and east of town and, unbeknownst to me, included riding through the “town” of Luckenbach, which was certainly the highlight of the ride and likely deserves a post of its own.

On the wine side of things, we had a bit more “dumb luck” as we were there just as the “Wine and Wildflowers Passport” was getting underway. Basically, you pay a single fee ($65 per individual or $100 per couple) which covers all tasting fees at participating wineries. We secured a pass and ducked into four tasting rooms (there are a ton of tasting rooms in and around Fredericksburg).

The first stop was Grape Creek, at the tasting room in the middle of town. They have a huge wine club and make both Texas and California wines.

Next was Wedding Oak, just outside of town, which only uses Texas fruit. I particularly liked the “Tioja” (a “Texas Rioja”) and this Eclipse, which was made for the Total Eclipse that would pass over the town the following Monday.

Next was William Chris, one of the pioneers of the region’s wine trade and a huge operation. I particularly liked the 2021 Mourvèdre and this Mary Ruth Sauvignon Blanc/Muscat blend.

Last, on the way out of town, we stopped at Ron Yates Winery, where I particularly liked his 2022 Grenache Rosé and 2020 Tempranillo.

As I said, we thoroughly enjoyed our first foray into the Texas wine scene and Fredericksburg is a fantastic little town. We ate particularly well while we were there and fell in love with a relatively new wine bar, Six Twists, that specializes in the wines of Champagne. We will definitely head back at some point.

@texashillcountrywine