If you're a functioning (or aspiring) voluptuary, head with us to next weekend's Sunday Fair. It culminates the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, and promises to be a pleasure-filled event.
This year, the Fair is being held downtown, on the grounds of the Mexican American Cultural Center, from 1pm-5pm. Tickets cost $45, but designated driver tickets are only $30.
December is normally a time when the food and wine event calendar slows down (excepting those 14 holiday parties you're invited to this month), but this year, the organizers of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival have thrown us a delicious curve-ball. This weekend, they'll debut the Wine and Swine Weekend, a new three-day fundraiser for the festival featuring upscale local chefs, a varied wine selection, and the unquestioned star of the show - pork.
Marcia Monahan towers above Sonoma - or at least her vineyards do. The Stonestreet estate (owned by Kendall-Jackson magnate Jess Jackson) sits in the Mayacamas Mountains above the Alexander Valley and Russian River areas, and only about a fifth of the estate is actually plantable due to the soils and elevation levels. Along with "winemaster" Graham Weerts, Ms. Monahan produces Cabernet, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc from five distinct areas throughout the mountain. Just two months ago, the vineyard and winemakers received some lofty praise from the Emperor of Wine himself, Robert Parker: "Kudos to proprietor Jess Jackson and winemakers Graham Weerts and Marcia Monahan for exploiting this high elevation terroir. This has been a work-in-progress for Jackson, and he has finally hit paydirt." Parker has said that the Stonestreet Cabernets could last as long as three decades, which shows both the complexity and the beauty of what Monahan and Weerts are accomplishing. We recently spoke to Ms. Monahan about everything from mountain soils to Austin sushi.
On Monday, the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival announced their event schedule for the 25th Anniversary edition, to be held from April 15-18 at venues across the Austin Metro area. While there is much to discuss, it seems prudent to tip you to two big events with budget admission prices that may sell out quickly.
We sat down with Blank one morning at Hudson’s last week - sunlight filtering in through the wine glasses which stood at silent attention during these rare peaceful moments before the deliveries and phone calls begin, and long before the first customer touches lip to fork. Despite his multiple accolades, you will find no pretention here: Blank emerges from the kitchen, suntanned and smiling, to sit down and chat with Austinist in the midst of the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival.
For the 3rd year, the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival's Sunday Fair returns to Georgetown's San Gabriel Park for a day of artisanal foods, live cooking demonstrations, shade-tree discussions about Texas wine and spirits, and live music.
While the cultures may be somewhat divergent, the climate and landscape of the Texas Hill Country have been compared to the winemaking giants of central Italy, Spain or the South of France, and Mediterranean wines like Grenache, Syrah, Viognier, Tempranillo and Sangiovese are becoming more common (especially since they can better deal with Texas' extreme weather and the need to dig deep for nutrients.)
If you've got a hankerin' to attend a Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival event this weekend but don't feel like ponying up the dough, enter below for a chance to win one of three pairs of tickets to the following events:
Austin Uncorked and Acoustic
Hot Latin Lunch
The Sunday Fair in San Gabriel Park
A new event in this year's quiver of festival firsts, Zen Nation will take place at Action Figure's East Austin Studios and will feature signature cocktails, celebrity sightings (ostensibly) and entertainment from Charanga Cakewalk.
As Elvis Costello once said: "Oh, I just don't know where to begin." How does one describe Austin's best food and wine event of the year? Let us simply say that if you're a foodie, and you don't plan to attend this...perhaps your credentials should be revoked.
This is prom night, homecoming, and the big game all in one. The top wineries are pouring. The best restaurants in the state are competing to one up each other. And the sheer volume of it all is overwhelming. Stars Across Texas is the marquee event of the festival, an expensive but amazing feast for your palate featuring everything that's great about Texas food and international wine and spirits.
One could hardly hold something called the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival without devoting an event to the glory of BBQ. So the folks behind the THCWFF have put together a Saturday afternoon feast of gluttony, with a bevy of ribs, brisket, sausage, and pulled pork that's bad for the heart but good for the soul. Particpating BBQ purveyors include both The Salt Lick and New York's popular upstart Hill Country Barbecue Market, which has been packing them in in Chelsea by serving up Lockhart-style BBQ and beers. Other restaurants will be announced soon.
With less than a month before four of the best food-focused days in Central Texas, now's the time to figure out the best strategy for maximum consumption. Click through for an entire event listing and links to purchase tickets.
Our sister sites in NYC, San Francisco, and Chicago may have the culinary advantage of established food scene braggin' rights, but during the long weekend of April 10-13, the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival returns for its 23rd year, showcasing Central Texas' unique culinary points of distinction (with modern mixology, gourmet hangover breakfasts, and Austinist's most important gastronomic matter - the ubiquitous search for the perfect taco - at the head of the line.)
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