THE BOOT ST O R I E S F R O M T H E T E X A S H I L L C O U N T RY
D R A W N BY L EG ACY, A FO U R-STA R G E N E R A L RETURNS HOME
F R E D E R I C K S B U R G’ S RO B U ST J U N I O R G O L F P RO G R A M
E X P LO R E O N E O F T H E F I R ST W I N E R I ES I N T H E T E X A S H I L L CO U N T RY
2020 | ISSUE 1
TEXAS AT ITS BEST HHHHH
A legendary private club community
Copyright Š 2020 –Boot Ranch Holdings, LLC - All rights reserved. Oral representations cannot be relied upon as correctly stating representations of the Developer. Obtain the Property Report required by Federal law and read it before signing anything. For correct representations, please refer to the Property Report and, for the Sunday Houses, the Texas Timeshare Disclosure Statement, as may be amended from time to time. Not intended as an offer of or solicitation to buy real estate where prior qualification is required. The sketches, renderings, graphic materials, plans, specifications, terms, conditions and statements contained in this advertisement are proposed only, and the Developer reserves the right to modify, revise or withdraw any or all of same in its sole discretion and without prior notice. All improvements, designs and construction are subject to first obtaining the appropriate federal, state and local permits and approvals for same.
®
FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS Deep in the heart of the Hill Country lies the finest private club community in Texas. Boot Ranch offers unsurpassed family experiences, top-rated golf, true club camaraderie, and breathtaking homes to suit your discerning lifestyle.
“
The sense of community at Boot Ranch is what we value most. It’s easy to make friends and maintain friendships with such good people. And while golf is important to me, it’s all the activities and amenities that are a magnet to my grandkids. That was summed up one evening when, during her bedtime prayer, my three year-old granddaughter was overheard saying ‘God, thank you for Boot Ranch.’ – Jon Morgan, Austin, Texas
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BootRanchStories.com • (830) 997-6200 Homesites from $300,000. Cabins and Homes from $1.4 to $4.5 million
Call to plan your private tour. Property purchase includes a multi-generational club membership.
R E D E F I N I N G
L I V A B L E
I N T E R I O R S
donnafiggdesign.com 512.298.2588
T E X AS ROO TS
6 THE BOOT RANCH RITE OF PASSAGE M.L. Leddy’s Iconic Cowboy Boots
SAVOR
10 COWBOY QUAIL AND GRITS Chicken-Fried with a Kick
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CONTENTS
TEXAS HOMEMADE DAIQUIRI A Twist on a Classic DW EL L I NGS
18 THE ENDURING TRADITION OF SUNDAY HOUSES A Home Away from Home in the Texas Hill Country
H I L L COU N T RY
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F E AT U R ES
20 THE GENERAL COMES HOME Drawn by the Legacy of Admiral Nimitz, Mike Hagee returns to Fredericksburg
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RED CORN POPPY FLOWER
THE LONG GAME
Perennial Color at Wildseed Farms
How the Boot Ranch and Fredericksburg Communities are Cultivating Character
16 SIKA DEER The Japanese Deer Has Made Texas Home
34 A POTENT MIX OF OLD AND NEW Touring a Home Filled with Gratitude
42 A LIVING LEGACY A Look into One of the First Wineries in the Texas Hill Country BACK AT T H E R A NCH
48 ANGLING FOR SOMETHING MORE How the Stocked Lakes at Boot Ranch Reeled in Dr. Del Williams
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From the Publishers of
®
FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS
PROJECT MANAGER
Erin Kubatzky DESIGNER
Chantel Stull PHOTOGRAPHER
All photography by Marshall Tidrick unless credited otherwise. WRITERS
Jessica Dupuy Anne Heinen John Koenig Karen Krajcer
Emil Hale General Manager Jack Kendall Chairman, Advisory Board of Governors Mark Enderle Terra Verde Group Dan Green Wheelock Street Capital
COPY EDITOR
Sara McCabe DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION
Aaron Chamberlain ACCOUNT DIRECTOR
Elda Arellano PUBLISHER
Barbara Koenig
For more information, contact info@BootRanch.com. Copyright© 2020 Texas Monthly LLC All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
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ON THE COVER
Photograph of General Mike Hagee in his Fredericksburg Home. Photo by Marshall Tidrick
Live Your Success. Build Your Legacy.
Our experienced private banking team offers wealth management solutions and banking tailored to you, your family, and your business. With FirstCapital Bank of Texas’ Private Banking, you’ll have the confidence of knowing our team is there for you every step of your financial journey—so you have more time to enjoy the success you’ve earned. FCBTexas.com | 830.613.3628 | 805 W. Main Street, Ste. 500 | Fredericksburg, TX 78624
Handmade M.L. Leddy’s Boot Ranch boots are part of every membership.
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TEXAS RO OTS
The Boot Ranch Rite of Passage
M.L. Leddy’s iconic cowboy boots are the final pairing at Boot Ranch.
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hen new Boot Ranch members join the community, they take a well-heeled step into Texas tradition. Every Boot Ranch membership comes with a pair of exclusive, handmade cowboy boots from renowned bootmaker M.L. Leddy’s of San Angelo and Fort Worth. Each pair of the elegant, black alligator boots is made to measure and hand built for its wearer. Never mind that it’ll be up to a year before they’re delivered. These boots are worth the wait. Hal Sutton—Boot Ranch founder, Professional Golf Association legend, and designer of the Boot Ranch golf course— created the boot rite of passage at the inception of the private club community. “Boots are synonymous with Texas, and I wanted our members to have a pair of Leddy’s that identify them as members at Boot Ranch,” Sutton says. “I like to say Augusta National Golf Club does green sport coats, and we do black alligator boots.” “They’re very unique,” he adds. “They’re a keepsake forever.” M.L. Leddy’s traditional bootmaking methods and old-school customer
service are the product of nearly 100 years of experience. The business is run by the third and fourth generations of the Leddy family. Leddy’s grandson Wilson Franklin and his wife, Martha, have been the owners since 1986, and their high standards and proven techniques date back to the company’s founding in 1922. As recently as 150 years ago, boots for either foot were made exactly the same. Today, Leddy’s precise fit, careful design, and quality materials come together to create a boot that some say fits finer than a pair of socks. “There are a hundred boot companies out here, and you can go get amazing-looking boots at a lot of places,” says Mark Dunlap, Leddy’s vice president and general manager. “But no one does exactly what we do, and that’s what makes us very, very special.” Leddy’s was honored and happy to support Sutton in developing the Boot Ranch boot. “From the breaking of ground at Boot Ranch, we were out there,” Dunlap recalls. Measurements for the first member boots were taken in 2005. Every Boot Ranch boot sports a high-quality alligator-hide foot. The kangaroo-hide top is embellished on the front with an alligator-edged, kidskinbacked Boot Ranch boot emblem. Alligator skin trims the boot’s collar and pull straps.
“Alligator is considered the most exotic of all leathers,” Dunlap explains. “And it’s the finest boot leather from an appearance standpoint.” As he shows a boot, you can see that the kangaroo-leather uppers are lightweight, soft, and durable. “It’s a great leather,” he comments. “The Boot Ranch boot is a beautiful, beautiful piece of art.” Leddy’s is well known for the kind of versatility that lends itself to creating a classic boot or fulfilling a customer’s dreams. Shelves in both the San Angelo and Fort Worth stores hold specially made ledger accounts dating back to 1922. For each boot customer, the ledgers contain the boot’s specifications, along with traced length and shape of each foot, and measurements of instep, ball, arch, and heel to desired boot height. A customer’s ledger and page numbers create a unique code that’s marked in ink inside each boot. Leddy’s has started its third ledger just for Boot Ranch. You might ask why there aren’t online spreadsheets and scanned drawings instead. But that would fly in the face of Leddy’s intentionally traditional systems, including zero computerization on the bootmaking floor. “We’re just so old-school,” Dunlap says. “We don’t want to change and do things differently. We don’t want the customer to feel that we’ve gone ‘computer’ on them, in a sense. Our accounting
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Leddy’s grandson Wilson Franklin and his wife, Martha, in the Fort Worth store; Leddy’s branded saddle; Mark Dunlap, General Manager of M.L. Leddy’s; Iconic M.L. Leddy’s sign in the Fort Worth Stockyards; Showroom at M.L. Leddy’s in Fort Worth.
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TEXAS RO OTS
systems are all on computers, but not our bootmaking. We’re still building the boot today the same way that Mr. Leddy started 98 years ago. We haven’t changed one thing. There may be some new basic equipment like sewing machines, but we’re not computer-stitched, we’re not computer-lasted—we’re still handmade to the fullest, made to measure.” Leddy’s San Angelo team of twenty expert bootmakers, many with decades of experience, each pursue a specialty contribution to a boot’s creation, sewing intricate patterns in the tops, creating the crimped bug-and-wrinkle stitching on the vamp, building heels, or making sure a last accurately reflects the customer’s measurements. Together they produce eight to ten pairs of boots a day. Saddles are made by a team on the third floor of the Fort Worth location, at the Stockyards. Leddy’s comes to Boot Ranch twice a year, during the spring and fall memberguest golf tournaments. Their roadshow version of the store comes complete with tall, comfortable chairs to sit in while being measured, as well as
sample materials and boots, and a range of goods in case someone wants to order an additional pair or buy a belt or buckle. Some members choose instead to be measured at a Leddy’s store, during an annual show in Midland, or at Leddy’s traveling store (under a small version of their signature neon sign) at the Houston Rodeo and the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. As a regular at the Houston Rodeo, Leddy’s will be celebrating its seventieth visit in 2021. The connection with longstanding rodeo events reflects M.L. Leddy’s longevity and commitment to decades-old traditions, business practices, and civility. That code of honor plays out when asked about famous customers, whose measurements are maintained in a private ledger. “Out of respect to our customers, we don’t give out names,” Dunlap says. “They come here to be treated in a nice and special way, and we don’t feel it’s appropriate to give out names like that.” But despite the company’s best efforts, the names of a few well-known Leddy’s customers have made their way
into the public sphere. They include both Presidents Bush, Trisha Yearwood, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Paul Newman, Nolan Ryan, former secretary of defense Robert Gates, musician Zac Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, and of course, Hal Sutton. Leddy’s also has plenty of working rancher and cowboy customers, along with oil company executives, doctors, rodeo champions, sheiks, art dealers, opera singers, and more—people from any walk of life able to invest anywhere from $1,250 to $18,000 in a pair of boots. And Leddy’s looks forward to creating more Boot Ranch boots as membership grows, in part because of the connection the company has with the community. “Hal put together a great golf course and vision,” Dunlap says. “We love Boot Ranch, and we’re very honored and proud to be a part of it.” — STORY BY ANNE HEINEN
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Plated Cowboy Quail and Grits; Chef Casey McQueen halves the quail, slices roasted corn kernels, and tosses with garlic and spinach.
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SAVOR
Cowboy Quail and Grits For Casey McQueen, executive chef at Boot Ranch, local ingredients are the focal point of the menu. While shrimp offer a standard complement to grits throughout the South, quail makes a lot more sense in the landlocked region of the Texas Hill Country. McQueen sources his quail from Diamond H Ranch in nearby Bandera. This dish gets its crispy texture from the addition of rice flour and a signature Texas-style warmth from the ground cumin. The dish was originally called CuminCrusted Quail, but when a guest requested it with the mistaken name of Cowboy Quail, McQueen decided that both the dish and the name should be a permanent fixture on the menu. A spicy jalapeño-bacon and vegetable sauté, along with a mapleSriracha glaze served over a bed of cheesy grits, make this dish a Boot Ranch favorite.
SERVES 4 8 quail, semi-boned and halved 1 quart buttermilk Vegetable oil 1 cup rice flour 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin 2 tsp cracked black peppercorns 2 tsp coarse ground kosher salt Quick grits (not instant grits) 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded 1/2 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded 2 Tbsp butter, chilled and divided 1 lb. jalapeño bacon 2 ears corn on the cob, roasted
1. Brine quail in buttermilk in a large glass dish for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. Remove quail from brine and pat dry with paper towel. 2. Combine the two flours, cumin, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep frying pan over medium-high to 365°F. 3. Dredge the quail in flour and fry, turning once, until golden brown (about 4 minutes.) Remove from pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. 4. Prepare eight servings of grits according to package instructions. Stir in cheeses and butter once grits are finished cooking. You may not use all the grits but leftovers are great for breakfast with poached eggs. 5. Meanwhile, sauté jalapeño bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove from skillet and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Drain bacon grease, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan. Return skillet to heat and add chopped bacon, roasted corn kernels, smashed garlic, and thyme. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and fold in spinach until just wilted. 6. Divide grits among four plates. Spoon bacon-vegetable mixture over each serving. Place two quail on each plate. Whisk together maple syrup and Sriracha in a small bowl and drizzle over top. Serve immediately.
3 smashed cloves garlic 3 sprigs fresh thyme 2 cups fresh spinach 3/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 Sriracha sauce
Casey McQueen Executive Chef, Boot Ranch
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SAVOR
Boot Ranch mixologist Ben Frazier prepares a Texas Homemade Daiquiri.
Texas Homemade Daiquiri Though most commonly associated with the blended, fruity beverage served poolside as a sweet, slushy concoction, the original daiquiri is something altogether different. This classic cocktail originated in Havana, Cuba, in the late 1800s as a simple combination of rum, lime, and sugar. Boot Ranch mixologist Ben Frazier stays true to the original, opting for locally produced rums from Balcones Distilling in Waco and Iron Goat Distillery in Fredericksburg. The pineapple juice cuts the tartness of the lime with a touch of sweetness. To make this a tad more pool-friendly, serve it over ice in a Collins glass with a tropical slice of pineapple. 1 oz. Balcones Distilling Texas Rum 1 oz. Iron Goat Distillery White Rum
Fill a metal cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in all ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of lime. *Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup of water in a saucepan and stir to combine. Heat pan over medium-high heat to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and let simmer until sugar dissolves and the syrup thickens slightly. (About 3 minutes.) Let cool and transfer to a glass container with a tight-ďŹ tting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to one week.
3/4 oz. fresh pineapple juice 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice 1/2 oz. simple syrup*
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Ben Frazier Mixologist, Boot Ranch
“One of the Top 10 Golf Communities in America” - Golf Digest
BUILD A LEGACY in a place that’s
LEGENDARY HHHHH
This is Boot Ranch, a private club community firmly rooted in the authentic culture of the Texas Hill Country. It’s a haven where families gather for the easy laid-back atmosphere, outdoor adventures, and true club camaraderie. It’s where you’ll hang your hat and lift your spirits. Homesites from $300,000. Cabins and homes from $1.4 to $4.5 million.
BootRanchLiving.com • Call (830) 997-6200 to plan your private tour Property purchase includes a multi-generational club membership. Copyright © 2020 –Boot Ranch Holdings, LLC - All rights reserved. Oral representations cannot be relied upon as correctly stating representations of the Developer. Obtain the Property Report required by Federal law and read it before signing anything. For correct representations, please refer to the Property Report and, for the Sunday Houses, the Texas Timeshare Disclosure Statement, as may be amended from time to time. Not intended as an offer of or solicitation to buy real estate where prior qualification is required. The sketches, renderings, graphic materials, plans, specifications, terms, conditions and statements contained in this advertisement are proposed only, and the Developer reserves the right to modify, revise or withdraw any or all of same in its sole discretion and without prior notice. All improvements, designs and construction are subject to first obtaining the appropriate federal, state and local permits and approvals for same.
TOP: Interior of a historic Sunday House at the Pioneer Musum in Fredericksburg. BOTTOM: Boot Ranch Sunday Houses are fully furnished second homes whose ownership is shared by eight families.
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DWELLINGS
The Enduring Tradition of Sunday Houses
Originally a place in town for Fredericksburg’s first German farmers, Sunday Houses now offer a rural retreat for Texas city dwellers.
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redericksburg’s Sunday Houses of yore provided refuge from rural living, giving the area’s immigrant farmers a place to stay in town on weekends so they could go to church and socialize. Often only one room with a children’s sleeping loft accessed from a ladder outside, the charming structures would look right at home among the popular tiny houses of today. The Boot Ranch versions of Sunday Houses are far more spacious and contemporary than their namesakes, but they offer a similar sense of refuge. City dwellers find respite from the everyday in these luxurious second homes whose ownership and usage is shared by eight families. A trip to Fredericksburg provides plenty of opportunities to see, tour, and in some cases, even stay in historic Sunday Houses. There they help form the fabric of the Fredericksburg Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the original Sunday Houses were built in the mid-1800s by German
settlers drawn to the wilds of Texas with promises of land. Under the management of Baron von Meusebach from Germany, each man who immigrated to the Hill Country was given a 100-foot-wide by 200-foot-deep lot in Fredericksburg before he received acreage outside of town, according to Evelyn Weinheimer, archivist at the Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg. This progression in the land grant process encouraged the proliferation of Sunday Houses as well as townspeople’s homes and shops. The name “Sunday House” refers to a cultural innovation and not an architectural style, Weinheimer says. Wood frame houses with gingerbread lattice-trimmed front porches—perfect as an outdoor spot to sit, work, and engage with passersby—are frequently seen alongside those made from limestone and painted with whitewash. Some owners embellished their structures with second rooms or upstairs stories as their needs changed, while others even moved into their Sunday Houses in their later years to let a younger generation take over the farm. You can begin your Fredericksburg tour at the Weber Sunday House at the Pioneer Museum. The simple but adorable home served as the weekend living quarters for the Weber family, who lived seven miles from town. The museum’s
walking tour through town also includes stops at various Sunday Houses. Or just walk or drive on your own down West San Antonio or West Main Street, where many of the homes were built to be in close proximity to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Methodist church, or one of three Lutheran churches. “They didn’t have any other religions here until 1921, when the Baptists came,” Weinheimer says. “And church was very important to the settlers. To come back into town for church on Sundays was a big deal.” The opportunity to connect with others in the community was also a big draw. “It was a house they could come to, go to church, shop, and visit other families,” Weinheimer notes. “They could go to a dance on Saturday and church on Sunday.” A couple of centuries hasn’t changed that desire to connect, and a contemporary Sunday House still offers a cozy home base to enjoy family and friends, to hop into town for church, or to bootscoot across the floor at a historic dance hall. The Sunday Houses of yesteryear and today are just waiting for you to discover in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. — STORY BY ANNE HEINEN
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HILL COUNTRY
The Texas Hill Country abounds with unique flora and fauna, from the region’s celebrated wildflowers that bloom across the hills each spring to the native songbirds, such as the green kingfisher, that fill the trees and skies with sweet melodies. In this issue, take a closer look at the red corn poppy flower, a common Texas wildflower, and the sika deer, an exotic Japanese deer that has found a new home among the hills.
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John Thomas began experimenting with Texas wildflowers more than thirty years ago, bringing the colorful blooms that famously dot the state’s roadsides to what is now Wildseed Farms, the largest working wildflower farm in the country. Located just east of Fredericksburg on Highway 290, Wildseed Farms boasts more than 200 acres of wildflower fields and dozens of wildflower species, including the red corn poppy flower seen here. Thomas shares his passion for Texas blooms with visitors, selling seed varieties you can grow and enjoy from your own backyard.
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Photo by John R. Rogers
HILL COUNTRY
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In the 1950s and ‘60s ranchers in the Hill Country imported exotic species for trophy hunting. A stocky, dark-brown variety of Japanese sika deer have found sanctuary at now-residential Boot Ranch, along with wild sheep and axis deer.
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ABOVE: General Hagee in front of the oak tree near the site of his family home, now part of Boot Ranch.
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THE GENERAL COMES HOME STORY BY JOHN KOENIG
From his humble beginnings in Fredericksburg, Mike Hagee rose to become the nation’s highest ranking Marine.
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ike Hagee never actually met Admiral Chester Nimitz, although as a boy he did once see Fredericksburg’s most revered native son from a distance when Nimitz came back to town for a brief visit. Hagee also once wrote a letter to Nimitz. That was in early 1963, when he was a senior at Fredericksburg High School. He hoped to go to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, after graduation and become a Navy officer. Would the man who had commanded the U.S. Pacific fleet during World War II help him get in?
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General Hagee presents medals he was awarded while in the Marine Corps.
When the foundation’s executive director, Chuck Grojean, died in late 2008, the board offered Hagee the job. It took a little coaxing to persuade his wife to leave Annapolis, but she finally agreed. And so, in early 2009, General Hagee came home. At 75, Hagee remains tall, lean, and energetic. He looks as if he could still march twenty miles with a rifle and fifty-pound pack strapped on his back. He enjoys telling stories about his hardscrabble upbringing. The land on which he grew up is five miles north of Fredericksburg, just off the road to Enchanted Rock. His father and uncle jointly owned five hundred acres there. His aunt had an adjoining six hundred acres. The combined properties constituted the family ranch. “We ran sheep and goats, and some cattle. All on horseback,” he recalls. “We had zero money. I mean zero.” A devastating spring ice storm in 1948 killed many of their newborn lambs and kids, and left the family destitute. His WWII-veteran father re-enlisted in the Navy to make ends meet and the family moved with him, first to Washington state and then to Corpus Christi. They didn’t return to their Fredericksburg ranch until Hagee’s eighth grade year. The house he occupied with his parents and six younger siblings was little larger than a two-car garage. The upstairs bedroom he shared with his two brothers was unheated. His mother warmed kettles of water on the kitchen wood stove for their Saturday night
Photo courtesy of Mike Hagee
He got back a handwritten note. The admiral congratulated him on finishing high school and encouraged him to pursue a Navy career. But for help, all he offered was this: “If you want to go to the Naval Academy, contact your senators and congressman. Best wishes. Nimitz.” “It was the right advice,” Hagee recalls with a sigh, “but I was really disappointed.” Disappointed, but not discouraged—not even when he was passed over for an Academy appointment that year and had to settle for his second choice, attending the University of Texas on a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. He tried again for Annapolis the next year. This time, he got in. Hagee graduated from Annapolis in 1968, two years after Nimitz’s death, but chose to serve in the Marine Corps rather than the Navy. The Marine officers on the faculty seemed more dynamic to him. “I wanted to be like those guys,” he says, grinning. It turned out to be a good decision. He excelled in the Corps. Over the next 39 years, he climbed to the very top of its ranks, becoming a four-star general and Corps commandant, with the entire force of 185,000 Marines serving under him. And he joined his counterparts from the Army, Air Force, and Navy as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Hagee retired from the Corps in early 2007, he and his wife, Silke (pronounced Silk-ah), settled in Annapolis, with no plans to return to Fredericksburg except for occasional visits. But then the spirit of Admiral Nimitz intervened. While Hagee had been off studying at the Academy and soldiering around the world, the National Museum of the Pacific War had opened in Fredericksburg to honor Nimitz. Hagee was invited to join the board of directors of the Nimitz Foundation, which oversees the museum. He did so shortly after retiring. In his trips back for board meetings, he became a fervent fan of the museum and its educational mission. He also became enamored of the town that Fredericksburg had become in his absence. Tourism and a burgeoning wine industry had made it far more prosperous and cosmopolitan. He liked its historic Main Street, lined with thriving shops and restaurants. Most of all, he liked the people, whom he found to be warm, gracious, and clearly devoted to their community.
Hagee stands in front of the Admiral Nimitz Gallery at the National Museum of the Pacific War; Hagee and his wife, Silke, at their home in Fredericksburg; Hagee’s childhood home, the site of which is now part of Boot Ranch. CLOCKWISE:
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Childhood photo courtesy of Mike Hagee
ABOVE: The front of the guesthouse where materials from Hagee’s boyhood home have been incorporated. RIGHT: Hagee as a young boy (left) and his oldest sister, Barbara (right). BELOW: Hagee sitting next to President George W. Bush at the opening ceremony of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in November 2006.
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baths. “We ate mostly venison, because beef was too expensive,” he recalls. “All venison cost was one bullet. We hunted all year round.” The entire family—his father, siblings, uncle, and cousins—worked the ranch, building and repairing fences, shearing the sheep, baling alfalfa in the fields below their house, and herding the livestock on horseback. Sometimes, Hagee even rode his horse to school in Fredericksburg, tying it up behind the gymnasium. Theirs was a hard life, but almost everyone Hagee knew around Fredericksburg lived the same way. Much has changed since then. The Hagee family land is now part of Boot Ranch, a 2,000-acre private club community. The pastures have been replaced by a manicured, 18-hole golf course. More than one hundred multi-million-dollar estate homes dot the ridges surrounding it. The longest road in Boot Ranch is named Hagee Drive. Named for him? “No,” the general answers. “It’s named for my family.” One of the new Boot Ranch homes stands on the site of his boyhood home. Some of the stone and flooring from his humble dwelling was re-used in the construction of a guest cabin there. From the cabin porch, Hagee points out traces of his years on the land. The family well, still standing on the property. The hillside where a pipe from the family toilet emptied out. “I think that’s why it’s still so green down there,” he jokes. One of his monthly jobs was shoveling lime down the hill to mask the smell. He points to an oak tree, grown tall since his years there. And to the place beyond it where their barn was. Across the road rises the highest hill on the land, the one on which the Boot Ranch clubhouse now stands. Seeing it brings forth another memory. One day in the spring of his sophomore year of high school, Hagee raced his father on horseback down a dirt road back toward the barn. Trying to stay in the lead, he yanked the reins hard to cut across a sharp curve. The reins snapped, and he was left dangling off the galloping horse’s side. His left arm slammed into a tree, shattering the bone below the elbow. “You hear the story that if you die, you see your entire life flash in front of you,” he says. “I can still remember seeing that. Whoosh. All the memories just flashed before me. Then, I hit the ground, unconscious.”
Doctors at Fredericksburg’s hospital inserted a six-inch stainless steel screw to fasten the bone back together and encased the arm in a plaster cast. When the cast was removed, Hagee couldn’t straighten the arm. The doctors said it might remain bent for the rest of his life. His father refused to accept that. “Dad believed everything could be cured if you just got out in the daylight and worked,” Hagee says, laughing. When they got home, his father handed him a double-bladed axe and pointed to the side of that highest hill. It was covered with cedar trees, hundreds of them. “Clear it,” his father commanded. Every day that summer, from dawn to dusk, Hagee chopped. It took months. But by the time all the trees were gone, Hagee could, as his father had predicted, straighten his arm again.
“You hear the story that if you die, you see your entire life flash in front of you,” he says. “I can still remember seeing that. Whoosh. All the memories just flashed before me. Then, I hit the ground, unconscious.” Looking back on his arduous childhood, Hagee says, “Parts of it I didn’t like, but I was very fortunate. I learned how to work. And I learned the meaning of responsibility.” It helped make him tough enough and mature enough to lead Marines. “John Wayne with brains.” That’s how John Deutch, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and deputy secretary of defense, once described Hagee. The “John Wayne” part comes across in Hagee’s tales of leading a platoon in combat in Vietnam as a fledgling officer. The “brains” are evident in the fact that he led the team that wrote the battle plan for the Marines’ invasion of Iraq in 2003. His brains were also evident in another assignment. In the mid-1990s, the Naval Academy was rocked by a massive cheating scandal that led to 24 midshipmen being expelled and
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another 64 being punished. Hagee, then a colonel, was sent in to deal with the situation. “The reason they sent a Marine was they thought, ‘A Marine will go down there and set up a disciplinary process and he’ll fix it,’” Hagee says. Rather than go in with guns blazing, however, Hagee spent his first month on the job reading about character development. He returned to his superiors with a proposal: a character-development program that would stretch across all four years of the midshipmen’s Academy education. It would include monthly sessions in which the midshipmen would be asked to discuss and come up with their own answers to difficult moral dilemmas. Hagee told his superiors, “I don’t know if this will prevent us from having another cheating incident. But if we don’t do it, I can virtually guarantee we will.” The Academy adopted the program he conceived, and it’s still in place today. As Marine commandant from 2003 to November 2006, Hagee and his wife were quartered in a three-story historic brick mansion in Washington, D.C. (It was the only Washington dwelling the invading British didn’t burn during the War of 1812.) He traveled the world in a Gulfstream G5 executive jet. “That was nice,” he says, chuckling. But what he enjoyed most was getting out to talk with his Marines. Three-fourths of his time was spent jetting to wherever Marines were deployed: Afghanistan, Iraq, other parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. From privates on up, he was eager to meet with all of them in groups large and small. “I wouldn’t talk very long. I was more interested in hearing their questions,” he says. He found that the four stars on his uniform rarely intimidated them. “They will ask you anything. They’re unafraid. They’re interested in what’s going on, and they want to be involved. To me, standing in a group of Marines like that . . . boy, you get exhilarated.” The title “General” doesn’t appear on Hagee’s current business cards. He’s just Mike Hagee. And if people address him by his first name, rather than “General,” he’s just fine with that. “I loved being a Marine,” he says by way of explanation. “I was very surprised and very proud of being the commandant. But in my mind neither of those defined me.”
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He’s no less proud of being president of the Nimitz Foundation and of his role overseeing the Pacific War Museum. When the museum opened in 1967, its meager collection consisted primarily of memorabilia donated by local veterans, including Hagee’s father. All of that fit into what had once been Nimitz’s grandfather’s hotel. Today, the museum boasts hundreds of thousands of objects in its collection, ranging from items as small as campaign ribbons and rifle shell casings to things as large as a B-25 bomber and a reconstructed PT boat. Its displays and interpretive galleries span six acres and take the better part of a day for visitors to fully explore. Now, instead of talking with Marines on the front lines around the world, Hagee relishes the time he gets to spend with schoolchildren touring the museum. He tells another story. This one also involves Admiral Nimitz. Nimitz lost his ring finger in an accident while he was in the Navy. The museum’s collection includes a photograph of him, in which the hand with the missing finger is clearly visible. Last year, a class of elementary school students toured the museum. A boy of eight or nine stopped in front of the picture and studied it closely. Then he held up his own hand and proudly exclaimed, “Admiral Nimitz is just like me!” The boy, too, had lost his ring finger, but he had found a role model. Hagee tells that story with a proud smile on his face, knowing that his hometown hero was proving to be an inspiration for yet another generation. Hagee standing with Admiral Nimitz’s portrait.
Childhood photo courtesy of Mike Hagee
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Hagee as a young boy at his childhood home. BOTTOM: Hagee in front of the National Museum of the Pacific War. ISSUE 1
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Hole 8 on the Boot Ranch golf course.
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Photo by Brian R Walters
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THE LONG GAME The Boot Ranch and Fredericksburg communities are cultivating character, discipline, and opportunities for a new generation of golfers.
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n Saturday nights, Denver Schneider stays out past dark. The Fredericksburg High senior is not out with friends partying or cruising around downtown. He can usually be found working on his short game at Boot Ranch, where the 18-hole putting park is lighted until 9 p.m. The six-foot-four, 225-pound teenager doesn’t look like your typical golfer. In fact, he isn’t. And if it weren’t for an outreach program between Boot Ranch and the Fredericksburg community to provide free golf lessons to any kids who want them, Denver Schneider may have never picked up a five iron in his life.
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Emil Hale, former director of golf and now general manager at Boot Ranch.
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Hal Sutton, PGA legend and designer of the Boot Ranch golf course.
Hale’s late father, Tommy Hale, who loved golf and was passionate about young men and women flourishing in the sport. “Golf has taught Denver, as he has matured, really to be responsible,” Jennifer says. “Golf is all up to you.”
HOLE IN ONE If not for people like Jim Penn and other dedicated volunteers, junior golf in Fredericksburg might not have made it to the next generation of golfers after Denver. After serving about 75 kids in its peak years, by 2010 the junior golf program began to dwindle in numbers. The financial downturn had ravaged the economy. The golf pro at Lady Bird Municipal Golf Course had retired, and Hal Sutton had left Boot Ranch. About four years ago, though, Jim Penn, a local resident and golf lover, helped breathe new life into junior golf in Fredericksburg. Penn had seen the power of junior golf, as Hale had helped his son Justin reach the top position on his high school team and achieve his full potential at Texas Christian University. Penn wanted more kids to have access to the game and the life skills it instills. With an idea to start his own nonprofit, Penn hoped to reinvigorate junior golf in Fredericksburg, but was told it would be a difficult proposition. Instead, he approached the Friends of Lady Bird (FOLB), a nonprofit established to support the local municipal course, whose operations had by then been outsourced to a golf management company. That had left FOLB with a single mission: junior golf.
Photo of Hal Sutton by Miguel Lecouna
It all started in 2004 when PGA legend Hal Sutton was building the Boot Ranch course in Fredericksburg. He and Boot Ranch golf pro Emil Hale started offering free clinics every Tuesday for any young kid who wanted to learn how to play. Six or seven kids would typically show up; 15 on a good day. The head golf pro at the municipal Lady Bird Johnson Golf Course in Fredericksburg soon got on board, as did the high school golf coach. In 2010 Denver Schneider was a nine-yearold just getting into sports when he started going to the golf clinics. Over the years, Schneider grew to love the game more and more, eventually joining the Fredericksburg High School golf team and excelling. Last fall, at age eighteen, he won the Boot Ranch Club Championship. Schneider’s mother, Jennifer, says her son was nervous because he was competing against older players. “Denver asked me, ‘What if I win? Are these guys going to be mad?’ Most of them see him out there every day, though. They are very supportive. He built good relationships with them.” This fall, Denver will leave Fredericksburg to start college at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on a golf scholarship. He also has received the Tommy Hale Memorial Scholarship, given to a local high school senior who has demonstrated a love and respect for golf, shows skills as a leader, has outstanding academics, and serves the community. Part of the Boot Ranch Scholarship Fund, it was established in honor of Emil
Denver Schneider, a product of the junior golf program, at the Boot Ranch golf course.
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TOP & LEFT: Junior golfers take lessons at Boot Ranch. RIGHT: Jim Penn restarted junior golf in Fredericksburg.
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In 2017, he pitched the Friends of Lady Bird board about joining forces and providing the fundraising prowess needed to accomplish their mutual goals. Joining Penn in his proposal was Denver’s father, Brad Schneider, and Brian Fairchild, another golfer dad, and their pitch was enthusiastically received. Friends of Lady Bird changed its name to the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg and began focusing on junior golf.
BEST BALL Aside from lessons and clinics by the pros at Lady Bird Johnson Golf Course and Boot Ranch, the foundation is expanding by introducing the game to Fredericksburg kids in local classrooms. “The first year we got seventy kids that came out for clinics during the summer and fall,” Penn says. “Then we said, ‘Okay, that’s great, but how do we get more kids involved?’” The answer was simple: start earlier by going to physical education classes. They introduced a PGA program called Short Golf to the PE teachers at seven primary and middle schools in Fredericksburg. The teachers then began to incorporate golf into the curricula, teaching young kids how to use equipment and introducing golf concepts through fun and accessible games, such as hitting tennis balls with golf clubs onto targets. Through this classroom initiative, the Junior Golf Foundation now has the potential to reach 1,200 kids each year. “We’ve been quite successful in getting our message out, having the city understand the importance of golf for boys and girls,” says board president Leonard Bentch. “We’re making this the cool sport for kids, all through the school experience.” At any time, a child can come to Lady Bird Municipal Golf Course, and a golf pro will match him or her to a small set of golf clubs.
The foundation has provided about thirty sets of these clubs from U.S. Kids Golf, each with about six or seven clubs in a bag. Today, the relationships between Gillespie County schools, the Lady Bird Golf Course, Boot Ranch, and the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg are flourishing. Lady Bird head pro Chris Meade, Boot Ranch head pro Alex Rhyne, and their assistant pros teach weekly clinics alternating between the two courses. At the same time, they continue to visit schools and coach kids who compete every Saturday in a traveling golf league.
S W E E T S P OT In addition to playing on the men’s golf team at Methodist, Denver Schneider will also be starting to pursue a degree this fall in PGA Golf Management at one of only thirteen schools in the nation to offer it. It’s an intense program that includes working a three-month internship every summer. For Schneider, it’s a chance to build a career thanks to the people of Fredericksburg and its two golf courses making junior golf a priority. It’s also an opportunity for him to figure out how he can pay it forward to the next generation. Schneider likes working with his hands, he says, and the PGA Golf Management program includes lessons in club-building. “Custom clubs are really expensive,” he explains. “I thought maybe I could do something along that line to help get the right tools into the hands of kids who can’t afford them, so they can play better golf.” When he started giving free lessons to Fredericksburg kids in 2004, Hal Sutton knew that golf could be the right tool to help build discipline, responsibility, and good character. Denver Schneider and his generation of junior golfers are proving just how on-target Sutton’s instincts were.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Exterior of Gwen and Don Hanna’s home in Boot Ranch; the Hannas in their living room; front entry of the Hannas’ home.
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A POTENT MIX OF OLD AND NEW STORY BY K AREN KRA JCER
For Gwen and Don Hanna, home is a place to fill with gratitude.
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fter making Boot Ranch their primary residence in June 2019, Houstonians Don and Gwen Hanna quickly set about filling their new home with memories. Walking across their covered patio overlooking a neighboring twothousand-acre ranch, Gwen recalls a favorite. It was Thanksgiving, and the couple’s seven children and seven grandchildren had gathered around the outdoor gas fire pit. “Everyone was laughing, dancing, all snuggled up,” she says. “The grandchildren were lit up like firecrackers.” The sweetest sound came in the form of a question—the question that every family-focused empty nester longs to hear: “Mom, can we do this every year?”
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Though Gwen jokes that they designed their home to “entrap” their kids, the couple’s architectural style, décor, and collected treasures clearly make it their own. Gwen, a retired business developer, and Don, a retired banking executive, have traveled all over the world, but their hearts are in the Texas Hill Country. “We loved living in Houston,” Gwen explains, “but timing is everything, and we grew into the Hill Country. When you see that view, you could be anywhere in the world. You could be in France, Spain, Italy, Washington State . . . it’s absolutely stunning.” As lovers of the outdoors, the couple sought to create a home that was rooted in the natural environment of the Hill Country. Noting their use of local limestone and their vantage point atop the highest point of Boot Ranch, Gwen likes that their home seems to have “grown right up out of the ground.” Designed by Chad Faucheux of Design Visions and built by Centurion Custom Homes, both based in Fredericksburg, the Hannas’ “old-world modern” sensibility brings the natural beauty of the outside in with local materials and big sky views. Highlighting the home’s
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natural surroundings, Itschner Landscape of Kerrville designed groupings of similar native plants, such as yucca, blue agave, and other deer-resistant varieties. The front porch sets the tone for what guests will encounter inside: a thoughtfully curated mix of old-world artifacts and natural elements offset by a clean, contemporary backdrop. Beneath one of the home’s many reclaimed or custom-made metal chandeliers, an elk-skull mount welcomes guests to enter the steel-framed glass doors or relax on an intricately carved European wooden bench with a Fortuny throw pillow. “It’s fun to mix the old and the new,” says Gwen, who handled the interior decorating herself. “We’ve created a look that is minimalist but with a lot of texture and color.” Stepping into the spacious great room with its 24-foot limestone walls and polished, concrete floors feels like entering a sacred space. Large windows let in natural light while framing the rolling hills and scrub oaks beyond. From exquisite Richard MacDonald bronze sculptures to Rembrandt lithographs, “every piece of art has a story,” Gwen says. The Dave McGary bronze
The walls of the house are built with local limestone, a testament to the family’s love of the Hill Country. OPPOSITE: The butler’s pantry, walk-in wine cooler and guest bedroom are a study in subtle colors, and rich textures.
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THIS PAGE: Animal tropies, like this African kudu over the double-sided fireplace, are found throughout the house. OPPOSITE: The interior decorating, handled by Gwen Hanna, is a mix of old and new.
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sculpture of a young American Indian girl in full headdress, In Her Father’s Footsteps, reminds Gwen of her “personal hero,” her father. In the kitchen, a longtime favorite Frank Hyde painting of nineteenth-century monks tasting soup in their own kitchen welcomes guests as they help themselves to a drink from the open concept bar. Select animal trophies in nearly every room create an intriguing contrast between the wild and the refined. Over the double-sided fireplace presides an African kudu mount, and in the guest room, visitors receive a unique welcome from a full-body-mount bobcat that Don shot in Cotulla, Texas. From its position of casual repose on the guest bed, this “cougar on a shelf,” as Gwen calls it, has startled many a workman as well. The guest room is one of many spaces that the Hannas designed around a lighting centerpiece, in this case, a Lapland reindeer chandelier. Don indicates tiny holes in the antlers where Finnish children once hung streamers for celebrations. Dinner parties gather in the formal dining room around a table made of reclaimed wood from a train station in Nice, France. Noting the table’s contrast with the room’s gilded European baroque
fixtures, Gwen comments, “There are no rules. It’s just what you love.” Larger parties spill into the informal dining area near the kitchen and open bar. “We love to entertain,” she says. Though Gwen cooks three meals a day and says that her “kitchen isn’t for looks,” the space is stunning. The towering custom hood over the gas cooktop is an architectural centerpiece in itself. Striking black soapstone countertops on the substantial island remain clutter-free during parties when prep-work and cleaning occur behind the closed door of the back kitchen. A nearby butler’s pantry keeps dining wear organized and easily accessible, an important feature for the Hannas, who use their crystal and silver every day. “We don’t say, ‘Someday we’re going to use that,’” Gwen explains, “because someday is here.” A walk-in wine closet stores the couple’s favorite wines from all over the world, as well as a burgeoning collection from the Texas Hill Country. “We are starting to branch into Texas wines, which have come a long way,” Gwen remarks. Don agrees: “We’re really appreciating what’s happening in the Hill Country. There are something like 68 vineyards within a twenty-mile radius.”
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Their favorites include nearby Grape Creek Vineyards and 4.0 Cellars. In addition to family gatherings, the couple’s most meaningful entertaining is their small Christian fellowship group that gathers for House Church. On Sunday evenings, eight families meet at each other’s homes to enjoy speakers, music, and Bible study. “House Church warms the place up even more,” Gwen says. The reclaimed wood doorframe of the den marks the home’s transition from social to serene. Hand-hewn reclaimed timbers from an early nineteenth-century barn in Ohio surround this intimate space, softly illuminated by gilded driftwood sconces and a red stag antler chandelier. In the master bedroom, an artfully repurposed millstone serves as a table, while a large stone olive jar enjoys new life as a lamp. Though the centerpiece of the room is the bed’s nineteenth-century headboard with a castle medallion, the heart of the room is a colorful and captivating oil painting. Commissioned from Alaskan artist Heidi Hahn, the portrait of an American Indian grandfather with granddaughter illustrates the powerful bond between
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the old and the young, the mentor and the mentee. What makes it even more special is Don’s personal connection with the grandfather figure. Gwen explains: “The artist said that she needed an old man’s hand as a model, and Don asked, ‘Would you like mine?’” The couple capitalizes on their expansive views with an attached privatescreened porch and a spacious master bathroom, featuring a shower with carefully placed (head-high) windows. Visiting family spends the night in a private, second-floor apartment and bunkroom over the three-car garage. With so many outdoor activities at Boot Ranch, “Gigi and Poppy’s” is the place to be, which is exactly how Gwen and Don want it. When their children are away, Gwen most appreciates her Renoir lithograph, Mother and Two Children. “You want your children and grandchildren to remember that you love them more than the next breath,” she says, “and we can do it here. We live with a lot of gratitude.”
THIS PAGE: The Hannas’ den, with walls of reclaimed wood from an early nineteenthcentury barn. OPPOSITE: The guest apartment with built-in bunk beds.
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Richard Becker in one of the private tasting rooms.
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A LIVING LEGACY STORY BY ANNE HEINEN
In the capable hands of Richard Becker and his wife, a weekend getaway turned into one of the largest and finest wineries in the Texas Hill Country.
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ill Country wine is a thing, in case you hadn’t heard. One indication: Highway 290 is peppered with signs for wineries and tasting rooms that take advantage of the area’s great growing conditions and proximity to wine lovers from San Antonio, Austin, and beyond. If you visit Becker Vineyards, a short drive from Boot Ranch near Stonewall, you might see a familiar face or two. Richard Becker, MD, and his son Joe Becker, MD, are members at Boot Ranch, and both play active roles in their winery—one of the Hill Country originals. Becker Vineyards is also a reflection of their family’s determination and passion, and a living legacy to Bunny Becker, Richard’s wife and Joe’s mom. “When we started, there were four or five other
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wineries around us,” Richard says. He and Bunny received a state winery permit in 1993 and at the time, “there were probably a dozen in Texas. Now there are almost six hundred.” One measure of Becker’s success is the 140,000 cases it sells annually online, at the winery, and at restaurants, bars, stores, and the Becker tasting rooms in Fredericksburg. Its current offerings include more than thirty reds, whites, rosés, and ports from the nine harvest-ready varietals grown on the estate, including Sirah, Petite Sirah, and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as carefully selected grapes from other growers in Texas, particularly those on the High Plains. One could point to the hundreds of awards that Becker wines have won at state, national, and international levels, including four Double Gold medals in 2016 at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest American wine competition in the world. But others are more impressed with where Becker wines have been served, including the White House, the James Beard Foundation, the Texas Governor’s Mansion, and many quality restaurants in Texas and the U.S. But to hear the Beckers tell it, their success is all about the people: their own family and employees, the grape growers and barrel makers, and the wine lovers who flock to their inviting estate to enjoy and learn more about wine. “Dad met [legendary California winemaker] Robert Mondavi early on,” Joe says. “He advised that when people
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come to your winery, you should let them feel like you’re their winemaker and part of their family.” The youngest of three in the Becker family, Joe laughs about the cold rain that was falling the day that he, his mom, and their general manager planted the first vines in 1992, when he was twelve. Along with his brother, sister, and cousins, Joe grew up with the winery, spending weekends and summers helping out. Today he’s still there (“I don’t really have a title,” he says), when not practicing endocrinology with his dad in San Antonio and raising three boys alongside his fellow-MD wife, Emily. Joe’s sister, Clementine, who helped create the Becker winery tasting room, has passed away, while his brother Will and his family live in Massachusetts and come down for harvests. “I look forward to going to the vineyard almost every weekend,” Joe says. “My parents bought it when I was in seventh grade. I always knew I wanted to be a part of the family wine business. We’re blessed that Dad and I share a love of medicine and the vineyard. I get to spend time doing what I love, with my family.” In 1989, Richard and Bunny Becker found a weekend getaway cabin from the 1800s in the Hill Country. But their love of gardening, cooking, and wine propelled them to spend the weekends growing grapes and making wine rather than relaxing. Today the estate has expanded from its original 46 acres to 320, with 56 acres
of grapevines, including special varietals earmarked for members of the Becker Wine Club. Next to the winery, the 1800s cabin still sits on its original site. The rustic structure served as a bed and breakfast until 2011 but now is home to special wine tastings. The Beckers’ new heritage tour of the property, rich with historical tales of the land, region, and people, will start with a tasting in the cabin. Another stop will be the original vineyard, with samples for guests of one of that vineyard’s wines. The winery itself has three tank rooms and a barrel warehouse storing nearly 5,000 oak barrels. Cutting no corners in winemaking is another piece of Robert Mondavi’s advice that the elder Dr. Becker has treasured. “He took us under his arm in a way that was amazing,” he recalls. “We try hard to make the very best wine, and we win against all the best wines in the world.” For special tastings, the Beckers and guests enter the Reserve Wine Library cellar tasting room, home to Becker’s private selection of wines and his singlevineyard Cabernet barrel program. A hand-hewn mesquite table serves as the gathering spot for guided wine and cheese tastings. Each Becker bottle features original artwork with a family connection. The oak tree logo was painted by Richard’s childhood friend and artist, Tony Bell, while a portrait of Bunny graces the the Clementine Sauvignon Blanc, painted by her father when she was eighteen. Bunny’s legacy lives on in every aspect
The exterior of the winery; featuring original artwork. OPPOSITE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Becker Vineyards grows on 56 acres of grapevines; inside the Reserve Wine Library cellar tasting room; the weekend getaway cabin that started the estate. THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM:
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Richard Becker and his son, Joe Becker.
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of Becker Vineyards. The gracious partner and co-founder who died in July 2019 was twice featured on the cover of Wine Spectator magazine and recognized throughout the winemaking world for her level-headed and nuanced expertise. Her generosity, persistence, and humor were also renowned. Along with Richard, Bunny nurtured and grew the winery, helping it flourish to become the local leader that it is today. To honor Bunny’s memory and contributions to wine, the Beckers helped the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association establish the Bunny Becker Women in Wine Award, to be given annually to a woman working in Texas enology and viticulture. The first recipient, in 2019, was Brenda Canada of Canada Family Vineyards, a West Texas grape grower whose Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes, grown near Plains, Texas, are integral to many Becker Vineyards blends. “It’s a great honor. I still can’t get over it. It’s not something I ever thought would happen to me,” says Canada, who began growing grapes after retiring from her 27-year teaching career. “And the award is a great thing because there are a lot of women in this business, serving as consultants for vineyards, making wine and doing various things, making their way.” Canada and her family enjoy a strong connection with the Beckers. “Once you grow grapes for the Beckers, you become part of their family,” she notes. “Bunny was always a
lady. She was so graceful and loved to listen to whatever you had to say, and very supportive of whatever you were doing.” The Becker Wine Club brings the Becker winery’s friendly inclusiveness to the forefront. Alongside the Beckers, members participate in tastings and special events like lunches and small-bite pairings with on-site chef Michael Lockhart’s culinary creations. “Most Wine Club members have tasted wine from all over the world and recognize Gillespie County wine as a serious contender,” Richard says. Special group tastings, wine dinners, weddings, and birthday parties take place at the Lavender Haus, based on a limestone barn at the LBJ Settlement in Johnson City. A soaring timber-frame vaulted ceiling defines the event space, along with native cypress walls, wrought iron chandeliers, and a large limestone fireplace. The winery’s calendar is usually full of enticing annual events like fundraisers, the springtime “Bluebonnets, Bluegrass and Barbeque” party, a paella challenge, Merlot and chocolate tastings, and the Lavender Festival, featuring artisan lavender products, live music, and lavender-infused food samplings paired with Becker wines. Other activities are reserved for the Wine Club, whose membership is open to all who enjoy conviviality and fine wine.
I F YO U G O Walk-in Tastings
Group Tastings
No reservation is required; tasting flights include a souvenir Riedel wine glass, etched with the Becker name and signature oak tree image.
With eight or more friends or family members, enjoy six pre-selected samples of Becker Vineyards wine. A private tour is also available.
Reservations are required for groups of eight or more, and for other tasting experiences.
Reserve Library Tasting
Chef-prepared small bites are paired with Becker wines for a culinary wine experience.
Once a month, the elegant Library wine cellar is home to a select wine and cheese pairing; guests also
Go to BeckerVineyards.com for a full listing of events and to make reservations.
receive a behind-the-scenes tour of the winery’s production area.
The Art of Food and Wine
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BACK AT THE RANCH
Dr. Del Williams casting at his favorite fishing spot.
Angling for Something More The stocked lakes at Boot Ranch reeled in Dr. Del Williams, and now he’s looking towards the future.
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hen Dr. Del Williams and his wife, Mary Ann, first toured Boot Ranch, he recalls, “Everyone was looking at the houses, and I was looking at the lakes.” The retired general surgeon has spent a lifetime ensuring that his next big cast is only a few steps away. Before being lured to the stocked ponds of Boot Ranch, Williams—or “Doc” as he is affectionately known—owned and maintained a 1,200-acre ranch in the Guadalupe River delta—home to alligators, deer, cattle, migrating birds and, of course, fish. His undergraduate studies in biology served a dual purpose, forming a foundation for his 35-year medical career and informing his hands-on approach to
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raising fish. “I stay up with the literature and all that business, but I don’t do it exactly like everyone else,” he comments, noting his use of locally sourced, natural bait and other repurposed items. Laughing, Doc recalls his thrifty use of one hundred army surplus commodes for fish houses, sunk on the bottom of his lakes. “I’ve often wondered, one hundred years from now when those lakes dry up, what the archeologists are going to think—what kind of culture we had.” When Doc was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he and Mary Ann sought to find a home where he could enjoy nature more recreationally. Recognizing the potential of the property’s spring-fed lakes, as well as the lack of natural threats to fish populations, Doc knew that he had found his new home. “All my life I’ve taken care of fish and ponds, built ponds, stocked them. And this is the perfect place to do this. I’m going to be the fish master.” Doc’s future plans include adding structures, such as sunken logs, where
fish can hide to the lake’s otherwise smooth bottom; building additional piers; stocking and monitoring a variety of fish such as largemouth bass, catfish, and blue gill; and raising natural feed. “I never feed commercial food to my fish,” he says, then outlines his plans to install an underwater light system that knocks bugs into the water. “The fish get more protein that way.” Developing successful, natural habitats for fish takes time, and all good fishermen know the value of patience. “It will take a couple of years to get all of this off the ground,” he says. “You have to let Mother Nature take her course.” Until then, you’ll likely see Doc exploring the two-thousand-plus acres at Boot Ranch, working out at the gym, or checking in on the stock ponds with his grandchildren. “It’s gonna be great,” he says. “I can see it. I think it will be a fisherman’s paradise.” — STORY BY K AREN KR A JCER
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