Rock & Vine - Fall 2022

Rock&Vine

Where Stories of Heroes Come to the Surface

THE

THE HILLS

WINE DOGS

TOPPERS

Rock&Vine

Featuring the best life has to offer in the Texas Hill Country.

A product of Fredericksburg Publishing Company.

Publisher/Editor

Ken Esten Cooke

Contributing Editor

Kimberly Giles

Design Editor

Andrea Chupik

Contributing Writers

Ada Broussard, Amy Drohen, Sallie Lewis, Lee Nichols, Megan Willome

Contributing Photographers/Artists

Barney Kane, Kimberly Giles, Robert Gomez

Advertising/Marketing Director

Kimberly Giles Account Executives Kim Jung, Cindy G. Burdorf, Ann Duecker

Rock&Vine Magazine

712 W. Main St. | P.O. Box 1639 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Phone 830 997 2155 rockandvinemag.com

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COPYRIGHT: Rock&Vine Magazine is published by the Fredericksburg Publishing Company. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without permission of the publisher. Editorial content does not reflect the opinions of the publisher of this magazine. Editorial and advertising does not constitute advice or endorsement, but is considered informative.

Helping preserve the Texas icons we need

By KEN ESTEN COOKE Editor and Publisher

It’s fall, y’all.

In Fredericksburg, that means breaking out our lederhosen for Oktoberfest, tuning in to polka music and getting ready for deer season. In the rest of Texas, it means cooler temps and high school football games on Fridays.

It is the perfect time for an outing to the Hill Country, as the cooler weather makes a patio wine tasting or distillery tour a downright pleasant thing to do. You might even spot some longhorn cattle on your trip to the hills, and we covered one breeder who is helping keep this iconic breed alive and well. Ranchers like John Hever survived this summer’s awful drought and are keeping this storied breed as more than just a niche market. We enjoyed our time with him.

We also explore our region’s connection to those who came before any of us — our Native American population. Their roots are deep and they contributed far more to our land than is seen in most textbooks. Our hope is to highlight this population that had “an X drawn across” its history and exists mostly in the names of places and a few pictographs.

Fall also means Thanksgiving is around the corner and we profile a local operation that let’s those interested in their food origins harvest their own for the most natural dining table experience.

We also profile the pages of “News of the World,” written by a reticent, yet skillful author who penned “News of the World,” a book set in the Hill Country that readers didn’t want to end. We look forward to more of Paulette Jiles’s work.

We also look at the story of one of our favorite visual artists, Kevin Chupik, who has an amazing story and creates quirky, yet thoughtful pieces of western art in his own style. He was on our summer cover and we’re happy for his growing popularity.

Thanks for reading. We hope this issue helps you discover a little more about our wonderful Hill Country.

-R&V-

If you enjoy Rock & Vine, please subscribe at rockandvinemag. com, follow us on Instagram or drop us a note through our website contacts. You can also sign up for our e-newsletter there. We appreciate your patronage and readership and look forward to sharing more stories.

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Ada Broussard is a writer, gardener and goat wrangler, who was raised in South Louisiana. Her love of regional foods has led to a career in agriculture, where she has overseen CSA operations, from digging to marketing, and consulted with food producers to cook simple and seasonal fare. See more at instagram.com/adalisab/

Andrea Chupik is a graphic designer / art director living in Aledo. View her work at designranchcreative.com.

Kimberly Giles is our Rock & Vine Ambassador, who is always scouting for stories in our Texas Hill Country, email her @ kgiles@fredericksburgstandard.com

Ashley Odom is the chef and owner of Feast and Merriment. Living and working in the Hill Country keeps her creatively motivated, and she feels lucky to live in this area with so much food, wine and talent.

Amy Drohen is a Texas food, wine and travel writer who enjoys sharing her passion for all things Texas Hill Country. She is based in Cedar Park, TX and is currently pursuing WSET in wine. You may find her online at Instagram.com/sushigirl_atx/

Sallie Lewis is a San Antonio writer currently based in Fredericksburg. She has a Master's Degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University and her work has been published in The WSJ Magazine, Garden & Gun, and Town & Country. Find her online at sallielewis.co.

Megan Willome is a freelance writer and author of "The Joy of Poetry" and "Rainbow Crow". To read more of her work visit meganwillome.com.

Lorelei Helmke is certified specialist of wine and member of the Society of Wine Educators, wine rating.

Lee Nichols is a freelance writer based in Austin. He loves beer and two-stepping in Texas dance halls.

VISIT US ONLINE AT rockandvinemag.com

IN PLAIN SIGHT

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF TEXAS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE

By MEGAN WILLOME

n the picture book “Turtle Island ABC: A Gathering of Native American Symbols” by Gerald Hausman and illustrated by Cara and Barry Moser, X marks the crossing place — where trails intersect, where rivers meet, where travelers choose. We’re at a crossroads in our relationship with Texas’ Native American population. For a long time we drew an X across their existence, but they were always here.

We just don’t teach it. Even with requirements for students to take Texas history in fourth and seventh grades, much of the information is inaccurate.

“In one fourth-grade textbook they were told that the Karankawa were dead and no longer in Texas and that they were cannibals,” said Dr. Circe Sturm, professor of anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies at UT-Austin. “I went in and offered a corrective lesson because I was so saddened by what was happening.”

And yet names of Indigenous tribes are dotted across the state: Caddo Lake, Nacogdoches, Waco, Waxahachie. There are pictographs near El Paso and in Palo Duro Canyon. Near Seminole Canyon State Park is the White Shaman Mural.

“It’s stunning. One of the greatest pieces of rock art in North America, and it’s in Texas,” said Sturm. “The central figure is over 30 feet tall. The mural is 60 feet wide.”

Texas has the fifth-largest Indigenous population in the lower 48 — the sixth-largest, counting Alaska. But we don’t think of ourselves that way.

“No one thinks of Texas as American Indian country, like New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, with their vibrant Native American communities,” Sturm said. “There’s this perception of Texas as not being a place where there are Indians, no Indians left. It’s really, really wrong.

Part of the reason for that discrepancy is that the state only has three federally recognized nations: Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur (known as Tigua), in the southwest; Kickapoo, on the Mexican border; and Alabama-Coushatta in the southeast, whose reservation was established by the Republic of Texas in 1839. These are small tribes, so their presence often goes unnoticed.

The Lipan Apache, originally composed of many bands, is the only state-recognized tribe, with families living in places like San Antonio and McAllen. Each state determines its own method for recognizing a tribe, and Texas has not put a lot of effort into determining who lives here.

“The state claims they’re extinct, but people are coming together and asserting identity,” Sturm said.

But there are many more unrecognized tribes, and Sturm and her students are working to map Indigenous Texas.

“There’s no good source on Indigenous Texas history. There’s a lot to discover,” she said.

Her students are finding evidence of what Sturm calls “hidden tribes.” Like the Atakapa Ishak clans in the area between the Gulf Coast and the Big Thicket. They survived being exterminated or removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma by moving to swamps, places white settlers didn’t want to live.

Other members of larger nations — Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche — have been quietly returning to Texas for decades.

“There are a lot of tribes in Oklahoma, federally recognized, who see Texas as their homeland,” Sturm said. “There was a program, the Urban Relocation Program in 1952. It was the federal government trying to detribalize American Indians and move them to urban areas and start jobs. It was voluntary but involved a strong-arm. There were incentives in place. It was an effort to get them out of Indian reservations, so about 40,000 moved into Dallas and Houston. Many have been here for several generations.”

Other Indigenous people became Hispanized.

“A lot of those people were assimilated into Hispanic identity. So they took on European names, Spanish surnames. They were speaking Spanish anyway because it was all over that region,” Sturm said. “They were detribalized in another way.”

Some of them continue to hold dances and ceremonies even though they are not recognized by government entities. Now they are making themselves known.

“In the last couple of decades more of those communities are reasserting their presence in the state,” Sturm said.

Several Coahuiltecan clans have lived for thousands of years in an area stretching from Coahuila, Mexico, to the Edwards Plateau. Their language still exists but is spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. Among their sacred water sites are Barton Springs, Comal Springs, Spring Lake, and the headwaters of the San Antonio River.

“It’s a series of springs they associate with the origin and birth of themselves as a people,” Sturm said. “There have been many different tribes vying for Austin. If you took a snapshot in 1700, 1750, 1800, 1850, you’d find different Indigenous people overlapping the same territory at different times.”

More people who have discovered their Native American ancestry are learning what that means for their identity. Sturm is a descendent of the Mississippi Band of Chocktaw Indians, through her grandmother. But growing up in Houston and then attending UT-Austin as an undergraduate in the 1980s, she felt cut off from the Indigenous part of herself and her family.

“I was wanting to take classes on Native Americans, but most of it was history. I thought, ‘There’s nothing here for me,’” Sturm said. “I remember walking up and down Shoal Creek, and it was there that I found historical markers that I found offensive, as a young person. That sense of erasure in the state was troublesome and part of why I chose to go to a place where I could do Native American studies [at University of California-Davis] and taught at University of Oklahoma, to be in places where I fit a little better.”

Then, at her own personal X in the road, Sturm came back to UT-Austin, to help launch a Native American and Indigenous studies program.

“I felt like I was coming full circle, to correct some of the issues I felt as an undergrad. It was an opportunity that felt right,” she said.

Sturm had a clear understanding of her heritage. For a lot of Texans, it’s real but a bit murky. For C.B. “Hoppy” Hopkins, ancestry tests confirmed what family oral history had already told him.

“Anybody whose family has been in America for 400 years. According to the ancestry test, I’m a little bit of Shawnee, Lumbee, Cherokee, Black. I’m a skeech bit Indian, but the Comanches let me hang out with them,” he said.

Hopkins lives just outside Fredericksburg and has been involved in restoration of historic buildings since the 1970s. He calls himself an “accidental historian.” Fredericksburg calls him a local expert, especially on the Comanche, who lived here when John O. Meusebach and the German settlers came.

In school Hopkins learned a more complete version of Texas history than was in the textbooks.

“I had a teacher four times over in my middle and high school years who was German with a Cherokee grandma. She didn’t read to us out of the book,” he said. “I learned a lot of Texas history that most folks then didn’t get. Now it’s even more lacking today.”

The White Shaman Mural can be seen near Seminole Canyon State Park. Photo by Chester Leeds

That history reveals a lot of intermarriage between settlers and Indigenous people. That includes Sam Houston, who married a Cherokee woman. It also includes some white captives, like Herman Lehmann, Cynthia Ann Parker, and Rudolph Fischer.

“Four generations later, there’s a lot of Comanche Fischers,” Hopkins said.

The possibility of intermarriage was one of the remarkable features of the treaty in Fredericksburg. In a 2008 document titled “Meusebach and the Comanche,” Hopkins wrote:

“Why was it that this treaty was successful? Most treaties amounted to a conditional surrender. This one did not. It was more of an affirmation of a relationship, accepting each other as equals. It acknowledged racial differences as a distinction they chose to not recognize. It acknowledged cultural differences with a promise to learn, understand and accept each others’ cultures and to reinforce that understanding thorough inter-marriage. (Descendants of those marriages visit Fredericksburg today, five generations later.)”

At the time of the treaty — 1847 — over half the Anglo population in the Republic of Texas was German, and the Comanche, due to their strength in horses, were the dominant tribe. Their empire stretched beyond state borders. Virtually every tribe in Texas was either an ally or an enemy of the Comanche, so a treaty with them influenced relations with other Native Americans.

Sturm points out that the treaty between the Comanche and the Germans was unusual because most treaties are made by government entities, nation to nation. This treaty was between people who were disposed to be enemies.

“The way the settlers chose to deal with this issue was not to be violent but to treaty. It’s unique in Texas, dealing with another major player with diplomacy, rather than what most Texas communities were doing: to fight, to resist, to raid back and forth,” she said.

Diplomacy resulted in cooperation, protection, and trade — moccasins for the soldiers in the mounted infantry located at Fort Martin Scott, and honey from the Penateka band of Comanche, the “honey-eaters,” to be used in curing hams.

Over the years Hopkins has been the liaison between Fredericksburg and the Comanche living in Lawton, Oklahoma, some of whom are descendants of the treatysigners. He’s not surprised that the two groups found ways to celebrate their similarities and get along.

“The Fredericksburg-Comanche relationship stands out as a superlative example on how two apparently dissimilar cultures can get along,” Hopkins said. “That’s not as big a mystery as people like to make it.”

It’s not that hard to solve for X. It doesn’t have to mean we’re stuck. X can be the junction where we change direction.

- Circe Sturm

A bronze statue in downtown Fredericksburg commemorates the peace treaty between mid-1800s German settlers and the Penateka Comanche tribe. The statue by Jay Hester was dedicated in 1987 as part of the city's 150th anniversary.

THE WAY THE SETTLERS CHOSE TO DEAL WITH THIS ISSUE WAS NOT TO BE VIOLENT BUT TO TREATY. IT’S UNIQUE IN TEXAS, DEALING WITH ANOTHER MAJOR PLAYER WITH DIPLOMACY, RATHER THAN WHAT MOST TEXAS COMMUNITIES WERE DOING: TO FIGHT, TO RESIST, TO RAID BACK AND FORTH.

R&V

Photo by Ken Esten Cooke

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HARVEST WITH HEART

ROAM RANCH’S NATURAL TURKEY HARVEST IS A NEW FAMILY TRADITION

By ADA BROUSSARD

Photo by Robert G. Gomez

a spare room usually home to gym equipment, Taylor and Katie Collins, owners of Roam Ranch in Stonewall, incubated and hatched several hundred turkey eggs. Thousands of fans watched the sweet saga on Instagram. It was hard to look away as the doddering, wet chicks pecked their way into the world while the couple’s Taylor oldest daughter encouraged them along. Eventually, the chicks were moved outside where they became a part of Roam Ranch’s holistic grazing operation which uses thoughtful animal impact and rotational grazing to enhance soil health.

For the past six to seven months, the turkeys have wandered, gobbled, pecked, and scratched their way into maturity, gearing up for their day in the limelight. Roam Ranch is a multispecies operation, but their poultry usually takes a backseat to the noble herd of North American bison which the ranch is known for. But for the past four years, the turkeys have had their day, albeit a final one, via a unique event in which participants are invited to the ranch to catch, kill (using a non-penetrating bolt stunner), eviscerate, and defeather their own Thanksgiving turkeys.

The event takes place just a few days before the holiday, and in addition to a fresh, ready-to-brine bird, participants leave the ranch with group photos and a Ziploc bag of painterly feathers — memories of the day that cement it as reality and not just a pumpkin-pie induced fever dream.

“It’s probably our favorite community event we do every year,” Taylor Collins tells me when we chat about the harvest-your-own experience. “The intention and the purpose behind it is really to just help consumers connect to the land on which their foods are produced as well as the animals which they consume, which are sacrificed their life to sustain their families.”

Taylor Collins Photo by Mark Champion

- John Washburn

THERE’S REALLY NO FEELING LIKE ON THE THANKSGIVING TABLE, BEING ABLE TO JUST LOOK AT IT AND SAY, YOU KNOW, WE DID THIS. OBVIOUSLY, WE DIDN’T RAISE IT, BUT YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE IT CAME FROM. YOU’RE A PART OF THE ENTIRE PROCESS.

Photo by Mark Champion

Photo by Jeremy Brand

While some families devotedly run 5Ks on Thanksgiving morning, others have decided to make harvesting their own turkey a part of their annual tradition. “Each year it’s more than 50% returning families,” Taylor tells me. The $150 ticket covers the cost of one turkey, plus an experience for the whole family. It’s often a multi-generational affair, admittedly more memorable than a group trip to H-E-B, and more akin to romantic notions of earlier times and simpler food systems when entire communities would come together to harvest large livestock and wild game. “In many circumstances, these are people’s first time to ever see an animal die, let alone one they kill, let alone they’re going to eat it together. And it’s so grounding.”

Recounting his family’s experience harvesting a turkey on a cold and windy day, John Washburn remembers the experience. “What really struck me was how humane the entire process was. Our children weren’t shocked by it, and I think it actually was a really great opportunity for them to kind of see where their food comes from.” His middle daughter was particularly interested in the event, “she wasn’t afraid to handle some of the organs when I was pulling them out… she was helping to pluck the animal.”

Fast forward to a few days later, and John’s family served the turkey on a table decorated with the colorful feathers they collected from the butchering process. “There’s really no feeling like on the Thanksgiving table, being able to just look at it and say, you know, we did this. Obviously, we didn’t raise it, but you know exactly where it came from. You’re a part of the entire process.”

This year’s hatched eggs were laid by heritage breed hens with names like Narragansett and Royal Palm, the latter of which is a stunning bird of snow white and ink blank patterned feathers. Unlike poultry raised in a conventional and very confined setting, these birds were raised on pasture where they had the ability to live like a turkey — flying, walking, running, and mating when they pleased.

And mate they did. Most of the hatched turkeys on this year’s menu are the result of wild and colorful Rio Grande toms mating with the domesticated, heritage breeds. “They are really special,” Taylor says, “really adapted to our ecoregion and have a really good representation of the flavor of Central Texas poultry production.”

Photo by Mark Champion

Photo by Jeremy Brand

HORNED SURVIVORS

LONGHORNS KEPT ALIVE BY DEDICATED BREEDERS

Photo by Ken Esten Cooke

By KEN ESTEN COOKE

Photo by Ava Snoozy

ohn Hever steps down out of his Ford F-250 about halfway up a gentle hillside and loud “Hooooooooooo.” Soon, a herd of roughly 20 Texas Longhorns make their way through the mesquite and brush, their horns visible first at a distance, then those recognizable coats of many colors coming into view.

The cattle know protein cubes are in store, but Hever says their saunter to the feed area is a bit less desperate than in the past few months, thanks to a recent two-inch rain in this driest of years. The grass has greened now, and the hearty breed hasn’t had to resort to eating the tunas on prickly pear cacti, with the scavenging self-sufficiency they learned over the centuries. Still, they are survivors.

“I have never spent so much money at the feed store,” he reflects on this drought-plagued year. “And you still look at the cows and say, ‘Wow, I feel so bad for you.’ But look at it now. Yeah, a couple of inches helps.” Between the 2021 freeze, which took out thousands of trees, and continuing battle with oak wilt, it’s been a rough time for ranching. But like their herds, these ranchers are a tough lot.

Hever said he prefers the Longhorn breed over all others. He and his wife, Susie, based in Dallas in the 1990s and thriving in a sales career, purchased land near Fredericksburg almost 30 years ago. They bought 10 head of mixed cattle to qualify for the agriculture exemption on the land. (He tried goats, but says, “They left. They just walked out. It’s safe to say I’ll never have goats again.”)

John Hever

IT’S PRETTY AMAZING HOW THEY MIGHT HAVE JUST FADED OFF INTO NOTHING. BUT THERE ARE A FEW REAL DEDICATED BREEDERS THAT HAVE GOOD BACKING AND THEY CAN AFFORD TO PUT UP WITH THE UPS AND DOWNS IN THE MARKET.

- John Hever

Photos by Ava Snoozy

Most of his initial batch of cattle were a Black Angus cross, typical auction house offerings. But two were longhorns and he began to admire the lore and the legend. “I started to gravitate toward the longhorns because they were a little quicker, a little more athletic. And, of course, they’re attractive. So I started going to longhorn auctions. And that’s it once you do. They are like Lay’s potato chips (can’t eat just one). Then you want certain colors, certain families and different sized animals.”

Hever ticks off information about his herd’s colors, horn structure, lineage and other details he knows after three decades of working with them. He points out one young calf who has good color, height and build. “He’s gonna be a good specimen.” He remembers which breeder he got them from, how much he paid, and punctuates the stories with quips and an infectious, high-pitched laugh. He loves these animals. “If I had to raise Angus, I wouldn’t do it. I might instead go back to playing golf,” he said, laughing.

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Longhorns, of course, are as iconic as Texas. The breed is recognized around the globe, almost synonymous as the Lone Star state and cowboys, and is known for strength and steadfastness, a hard-won reputation after surviving on their own in the South Texas brush country. Their recognizable horns helped them survive predators and still help them fend off mountain lions or keep coyotes away from their offspring. J. Frank Dobie, the mid-20th Century folklorist author, wrote of the breed: “Had they been registered and regulated and provided for by man, they would not have been what they were.”

Dobie’s book outlines the history of the breed, which was brought over by the Spanish in the early 1500s. Explorer Hernan Cortes had a great estate in Mexico named Cuernavaca (“cow horn,” appropriately). Some years later, Coronado drove cattle north to enter what is now the U.S. He left some of the exhausted animals in Sinaloa, then “twenty-five years later, [Francisco de Ibarra] found cattle running wild by the thousands.” A Frenchman in 1767 noticed west of the Brazos River “horned cattle, originally tame, that long since became wild and now royal in large herds all over the plain.” Dobie’s tome recounts the skill of vaqueros who roped the longhorns out of the dense thickets of the South Texas brush country. In the late 1800s, old-time vaqueros took to calling them “mesteñas,” or “Mustang cattle,” describing their wildness.

“They were the currency for Texas after the Civil War,” Hever adds. But they were almost lost because “10 million head went up the trail” to Kansas City slaughter houses. Barbed wire was invented and the plains were sectioned off, killing the cattle trails. Consolidation and big industry took over the processing houses.

The breed neared extinction — Hever says even to a more perilous level than the buffalo. Once the railroads replaced cattle drives to transport them north, the horns proved a detriment, taking up too much room on box cars. The leaner beasts fell out of favor with breeders. In the Larry McMurtry book, “Horseman Pass By,” (and 1963 movie “Hud,”) the rancher grandfather is devastated by an infection of hoof-in-mouth disease and reflects on two longhorns that are left in his pen which he will kill. The scene was nearly a metaphor for the life of the entire breed. “Lord, but I’ve chased them longhorns many a mile. I don’t know if I can kill them … but I guess I can. It don’t take long to kill things, not like it does to grow them.”

Even today with travel trailers, longhorns prove difficult to haul, sometimes cutting up one another with their horns. “It’s pretty amazing how they might have just faded off into nothing,” he says of the breed that could have been talked about like dinosaurs. “But there are a few real dedicated breeders that have good backing and they can afford to put up with the ups and downs in the market.”

Today, breeders continue to refine the traits of the Longhorn, though the beasts are far less of scavengers than they used to be. They’re heavier today due to better feed but remain sprightlier than most breeds. Hever says those on large West Texas ranches — which remains a popular place to raise them — can walk 15 to 30 miles a day in search of water. Large breeders, such as Red McCombs, Derol Dickinson in Ohio and Bill Hudson, of Kentucky, are industry leaders. The Y.O. Ranch and the Schreiner family both kept huge herds.

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Hever says finding a newborn calf can be like Easter egg hunting. It’s a genetic crapshoot as to which color or which dappled hide pattern will appear. Unlike the horn structure or build, it’s a wild guess. “You would think that since you know all the moms and the bull, it would be easy to figure it out. But you look at it and think ‘whose calf is this?’” David Hillis, a professor at the University of Texas, did an article for a longhorn magazine on the predictability of color. “David’s a character and a true professor. So, I read the article three times and at the end, it basically tells you there’s no predictability,” Hever said with a laugh.

Some who raise the breed keep them as decorations on their ranchettes, small plots of land that can still qualify for tax exemptions with the right number of animals. Hever always cautions the newbies to lease a bull for reproduction — don’t buy one right away — or they’ll spend all their time repairing fence and chasing them.

“Cattle-nomics” is not an exact science, but Longhorns can be as profitable as any breed. Hever sells to the newcomers, many of whom don’t realize what a high-dollar heifer can cost. Today, the trade is fraught with other challenges, with land leases, supplies, a diesel truck, feed bills when the grass is scarce. Fortunately Longhorns don’t require as much veterinary care of some other breeds, so that saves some. “The English breeds, they rely more on man,” Hever said. “There’s a market for Longhorns. I lose money on eight out of ten animals, but those two that I sell give me an average price that puts me at or above Angus cattle.”

Hever has hopes of eventually providing a grass-fed Longhorn beef product, which is in demand by chefs and the beef-loving public. Its leaner texture is said to have lower cholesterol, even less than a chicken breast if raised on chemical-free grass. “There’s more fat on the beef than expected, but it’s 94 to 96 percent lean. The attraction to lean meat really kicked in since the pandemic. And people

want to know where it came from, know the source, and what it’s been eating. All I give them is grass and they get protein. No hormones, no antibiotics, no shots. It’s just beef.” Hever distributes some of his own meat products. But other distributors tapped the brakes on this specialty product when diesel gas climbed to $5.50 a gallon, and many were traveling to farmers markets from West Texas. The weather and market gods in 2022 conspired against Hever pursuing that goal. Still, he’s playing a long game and healthy beef products won’t soon go out of favor.

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On another plot of land, RM High Hopes, his prize bull for the past decade, lopes down a hill from his spot in the shade. This majestic, 12-yearold, 1,900-pound bull favors his back leg and is starting to drop weight. He is in his last days, Hever says, but able to keep to himself since the grass came back. “He’s just pulling the old Indian stunt, laying under a tree until he goes,” he said.

Hever pours out some protein cubes for him. “We got a lot of good calves out of him,” he said. The bull was purchased from Red McCombs a decade ago, “the best money I ever spent,” he said. (“There is no negotiation with him,” Hever says.) RM High Hopes is scarred from rubbing against trees. Hever has already contacted the taxidermist to forever remember this bull. He will be replaced by H.H. Samurai, another standout with the best breed attributes.

Though the bull is in his last days or weeks, he has been a survivor, helping build the breed and helping it survive and thrive. They are survivors, having gone from surviving off cactus and hiding in the brush, to being bred across the U.S.

FURTHER READING:

“The Longhorns,” by J. Frank Dobie. The seminal book on the breed by Texas’s folklore author. University of Texas Press.

“Frank Reaugh, Painter to the Longhorns.” Paintings and descriptions of the artist and his work in the 1880s. Texas A&M Press.

Darol Dickinson has a large and active longhorn operation in Ohio and publishes DCC Ranch News email newsletter with entertaining industry news.

Visit texaslonghorn.com

DID YOU KNOW?

The “official” Longhorn herd for the State of Texas is kept at Fort Griffin in Albany, Texas.

A herd was kept at the Lyndon Baines Johnson State Park and Historic Area in Stonewall until just a few years ago.

VISIT

The Butler Longhorn Museum, 1220 Cornell St., League City. 832-679-6571, butlerlonghornmuseum.com. Tells the story of the breed through art and exhibits.

Photo by Ken Esten Cooke

Dietz Distillery is a small artisan distillery practicing old world distilling techniques where consumers will learn about the process and history of alcohol distillation as well as explore the expansive world of spirits and how they have come together to make the cocktails we know and love.

dietzdistillery.com

1434 S US Highway 87 \\ Fredericksburg, TX

Next to Fischer & Wieser’s Das Peach Haus

legendary memories

TASTE

A TASTE of life in the Texas Hill Country. Chef focused, Farm inspired. In every issue of Rock & Vine

TAO OF CHEESE THE

HILL COUNTRY MAKERS CREATE DELICIOUS, CREAMY SPECIALTY CHEESES

By ADA BROUSSARD

he story goes that an Arab merchant made the first cheese when he set out across the desert with a supply of milk stored in a sheep’s stomach. The unassuming vessel contained rennet — a mixture of enzymes that can be found in the fourth stomach of many ruminants including cows, goats, and sheep. For a baby animal, the enzymes help with the digestion of the mother’s milk, and when added to milk, rennet will help the milk coagulate and separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). The first cheese was likely made by accident, but for thousands of years (nearly as long as humans have domesticated dairy animals), there has been cheese on purpose.

Making cheese is as much an art as it is a science. As soon as curds and whey are separated, the cheesemaker takes the wheel — deciding whether to press the curds into fresh, moisture-rich cheese, like a soft, tangy chevre, or whether to age them, allowing time and bacteria to transform the milk further. There are even some cheeses, like ricotta, that are traditionally made from the whey itself. As the name implies, fresh cheese should be eaten quickly, ideally spread on a toothsome bagel or melted in an epic grilled cheese.

For thousands of years, aged cheese, which can last for months in a cool, dark space, was the only way to store milk, long-term. Many of the cheeses made in hot climates like the Middle East required lots of salt to make a dense, shelf-stable product. In Europe, where climates were more temperate, aged cheese required less salt (as well as less added acidity), two factors that created a perfect home for molds and

microbes to do their work. It’s this biology which gives aged (fermented) cheeses their flavor, complexity, and character.

Speaking of character, have you met your Texas cheeses? Unfortunately, there’s no consolidated list of Texas craft cheese makers. And while we don’t know the exact number of Lone Star milk magicians, we do know that there aren’t that many, at least considering the size of the state.

Antonellis, a well-known specialty cheese shop in Austin, carries products from about 10 Texas producers, and Houston Dairymaids, another specialty shop, carries cheeses from 9. One cheese producer we talked with estimated that there were only 20-25 producers in the state (compared with over 300 craft breweries statewide). Producing good cheese, especially a farmhouse cheese — one that is produced at the farm where the dairy animals are raised — requires good milk. Good milk is a product of good pasture and healthy animals. The soaring price of farmland close to market centers, expensive dairy/cheesemaking startup costs, and current drought conditions render Texas cheesemaking a challenging industry, and within the past 12 months, several beloved makers have had to shutter their barn doors under the pressure.

Alas, farmers prevail and cheese is a powerful force. Here in Central Texas, the cheese does not, in fact, stand alone. Allow us to introduce you to three Hill Country producers.

NUBIAN & ALPINE GOAT

PURE LUCK DAIRY & FARM

Dripping Springs, Texas

n 1995, Sara Sweester and her husband, Denny, filed paperwork to become a Grade A Goat Dairy, transforming their Hill Country homestead into a family-run enterprise. Three years after cheese production began, one of Sara’s 4 daughters, Amelia, joined her mom, and 25 years later, Amelia still walks in those footsteps. “We’ve been doing it so long. And if I’m anything, I’m extremely consistent,” Amelia says when I ask her the latest at Pure Luck, “You know, to ask me what’s new is kind of a dead end,” she laughs.

The legacy Amelia upholds is defined by a deep love of her dairy herd, and an affinity towards award-winning fresh-basket, tangy and spreadable chevres as well as aged cheeses, like their “Hopelessly Blue,” a seasonal, blue-veined cheese that is mild and creamy, lacking the intense funk that deters some.

There are two varieties of goats that make up the Pure Luck heard — Nubians and Alpines — and each of Pure Lucky’s roughly 67 does has a name, my favorite being “Puppy Dog.”

Nubians have long floppy ears and convex noses and come in a dazzling array of colors and spots. It’s a docile and friendly breed, that produce rich milk. Alpines, which constitute the majority of the Pure Luck herd, are a rowdier bunch.

“I adore Alpines. They tend to be a little bit more,” Amelia pauses to find the descriptor, “I often use the word aggressive. But they’re not like beating each other up, but they’re like: ‘I’m coming in! It’s time to milk! Let me through!’ I just get along with [alpines] really well.” I wonder aloud if I can visit the dairy and see these assertive goats in action, and Amelia kindly extends the invite, “It’s a really precious thing, kind of like a little show. They all are so smart and so willing. And [they] really love the process of following their every pattern… everyone’s got to do their thing, which is entertaining.” She goes on a little later, “I love waking up with that heard every day and seeing their ridiculous antics. They come in, and leave, and present their personality traits.”

In a large tank that can hold 300 gallons of milk, Nubian and Alpine milks get blended before made into around 500 pounds of cheese a week. Amelia works with a small team, including her husband, to see the process through. In addition to helping with the actual cheesemaking, Amelia is in charge of the milking, and she laughs as she explains the covenant she seems to have formed with her animals, “There’s some kind of toughness that goes along with goat milking. They have an order, and it works really nicely if you’re willing to be the top of that order.”

Photos provided by Pure Luck Dairy & Farm

Sara and Denny Sweester

RIVER WHEY CREAMERY JERSEY COW

Schertz, Texas

usan Ring is in her ninth year of owning and operating River Whey Creamery, a career that is a dramatic plot twist from her previous experience in book retail. Susan always loved food, and in 2007 after a session with a life coach, she decided to take a leap, quitting her job and enrolling in a three-year program at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at its Hyde Park, New York location. After graduation, she ran South Texas’s Slow Food chapter, a harbinger for the slow, thoughtfully aged cheeses to come.

River Whey cheeses are made from raw milk of Jersey cows, which Susan sources almost exclusively (over 95%) from 4 E Dairy in Moulton, south of I-10 near Schulenberg. She and her team turn this rich milk into a variety of aged as well as seasonal fresh cheeses… over 400 pounds a week. In addition to being loaded with probiotics, raw milk and raw milk cheeses have other benefits. “If you pasteurize the milk, you basically start from a blank slate. So any cultures that you want, you have to add back. The advantage from a cheesemaking point of view is that when you use raw milk, you have all those indigenous cultures that are already existing in the milk. And those are all the good cultures, right?” Susan asks to make sure I’m understanding her enthusiasm. Cultures “that are good for your gut, and everything else, you are saving those, if you will.” Like a seed saver, Susan and River Whey are passionate about using raw milk for their cheese. “I honestly don’t think that I would be a cheese maker if I didn’t do raw milk cheeses. It’s that important — from flavor profiles to the terroir, that chef thing — that taste of place that matters so much. And the other thing is all our cheeses are all specific to us. None of them have any names

that you would know from another type of cheese. I wanted to make iconic cheeses that would stand on their own.”

River Whey’s most popular cheese is their aged Indigo Ridge, which launched in 2017. It’s a flavorful Gouda/ Gruyere hybrid that has been aged in their “cave” for 8 months and constitutes over half of their overall sales. Another favorite cheese is their Whey Blue, which Susan affectionately referred to as their “Covid baby.” Seasonally, River Whey puts out fresh cheeses as well as marscapone — the sweet Italian cheese that you use to make tiramisu, and a product that they decided to produce to help use up the extra cream they had. They also have a Spanish-style cheese called Caldera which Susan describes as “a total flavor bomb. It’s basically bacon in cheese form. I mean, it’s so bacony. And we use pecan wood to smoke that with because pecans are local here.”

In addition to cheese production, River Whey has become a beloved destination because of the cheese classes and facility tours it offers. Like Susan, over half of her tight-knit staff are CIA graduates as well, and education seems like a passion for the team. “People that come and see what we’re doing, they all say, ‘I had no idea how complicated it is, how much science there is , how labor intensive it is!” The other question Susan gets from visitors? What’s her favorite cheese. And I’m like — you’re asking me to pick one of my kids. You know, it’s not gonna happen. It depends on the mood, on the day, on the weather. On what wine I’ve got in my glass right now.”

Photos

Rivery Whey Creamery

Susan Ring

OROBIANCO CREAMERY WATER BUFFALO

Blanco, Texas

ometime in 2018, Phil Giglio left Chicago where he was working full time as a corporate attorney, to chase down a dream of making mozzarella…with the milk from water buffalo. (In case it isn’t clear: water buffalo is a completely different animal than the American Bison, who would not cooperate in a milking stall.)

“My family is from, and I spent time as a young adult, in the region [of Southern Italy] from which the famous mozzarella di bufala originates,” Phil told me, “and I wanted to bring that and other water buffalo milk-based cheeses and gelato to Texas.” Phil teamed up with Jason Peeler, a rancher in Floresville who serendipitously was caring for a hulking herd of water buffalo, and together they launched Texas’s first water buffalo dairy, OroBianco, or “white gold” in Italian.

In early 2021, cheesemaker Adam Thompson joined Phil and Jason, and around the same time, OroBianco opened its customer-facing creamery and production facility just off the town square in Blanco.

Unlike cows, water buffalo haven’t been aggressively bred for milk production in the U.S. The head of Oro’s roughly 350 animals yields about 600 gallons of milk a week. To anyone in the dairy industry, this might seem shockingly low until you learn that water buffalo milk is 10% butterfat (compared to an average dairy cow, which is about 5%). “One of the biggest differences is the fat content. Every cheese we make is double cream cheese. Anytime you see a double cream Brie or something like that, they’re basically adding cream to the milk to get that fat percentage up. So when you start out with a 10% butterfat milk, you’re gonna end up with a 24% plus…It makes a much better, a much creamier cheese,” Adam assures me.

Some of the first cheeses Adam made for Oro’s new cheese program were big wheels of gouda and piccante (like sharp provolone) style. “We’re still opening some of those cheeses up that are 16 months aged,” Adam tells me, “and everything we opened is beautiful, you know, at that age, with that fat content, that just makes great cheese.” Adam is currently producing around five cheeses that are for sale to the public (with plenty more testing and ideas to come).

When you’re a cheese startup like Oro, creating new cheeses in a new setting, you get to choose your names, and OroBianco has done so playfully. There’s the Bluebonnet, which is a blue-rinded cheese with a funky, but not overpowering flavor. “That’s our gateway blue,” Adam tells me. There’s the Ladybird, which Adam describes as “a bloomy rind cheese, like a younger brie.” After aging for 10 or 11 weeks, the Ladybird is full cream, and slightly sweet. There is also a feta-style cheese that’s marinated in Texas olive oil, a perfect accompaniment to salads.

Adam currently makes one fresh cheese, their Blanco Fresco, which is soft and spreadable, and as for mozzarella, it’s coming. “As simple as it is, it’s still tricky,” Adam tells me when referring to water buffalo mozzarella, “it’s a totally different chemistry than say, milk from a Jersey.”

OroBianco’s future plans include a fresh mozzarella. “It will be made fresh and sold right then. We have no intention of refrigerating it and selling it the next day. It’s just going to be like a barbecue place, that we’ll sell it till it’s out, and that’s it.”

Cheesemaker, Adam Thompson

This fall,

HAUS

Steve Rawls photographer Project of Mustard Design Architects

We invite you into our HAUS section, where we will explore our area architects, home styles, and elegant décor.

TRUE HILL COUNTRY

TOP ARCHITECT FIRM EVOLVES WITH HOME, BUILDING STYLES

By KIMBERLY GILES

Photographer Wingman Imagery

ustard Design architects are a notable force in the Texas Hill Country in the design of residential and commercial properties. Now a team of roughly 11 employees — including three partners, Eric Mustard, Andrew Bray and Whitney Koch — this trio has dug its roots in Fredericksburg and intends to make an impact on local housing and commercial building.

It began with Mustard attending college at the University of Texas. He started his career working for the Texas Historical Commision on its Main Street projects, which focused on revitalizing small towns with an emphasis on maintain and attract small businesses.

“My mother’s family were German immigrants and I just had this affinity for the Hill Country, both architecturally and geographically,” he said.

The result of Mustard’s passion for historical revitalization lent itself to a partnership 15 years later with Bray and, later, Koch. The Mustard design team members are passionate preservationists that respond creatively in tackling a myriad of design issues that revolve around climate, particular project needs, all while offering unique design options that incorporate natural materials into their builds.

While Mustard has a passion for residential and historic projects, Bray and Koch are bent towards commercial design and development.

“Eric is more traditional, while Whitney and I are more modern,” Bray said. “It’s been a fun mix of style and personality in our industry that caters to residential, and commercial projects that include wineries, breweries, restaurants and mixed-use developments.”

Photographer Charles Davis Smith, FAIA

OUR HILL COUNTRY ARCHITECTURE UTILIZES NATURAL MATERIALS, REINFORCES A CONNECTION TO THE OUTDOORS, AND SEEKS TO MAXIMIZE THE NATURAL VIEWS AND FEATURES THAT PEOPLE LOVE ABOUT THIS AREA.

- Whitney Koch

Photographer Wingman Imagery

Photographer Miguel Lecuona

Bray likes to describe the design team at Mustard as a team of unique individuals that provides contemporary and traditional design styles that enhance buildings and spaces they help create. “It’s important for us to help our clients realize their visions while building on the foundation of great architecture,” Bray adds.

The Texas Hill Country architecture has its own style and is different in terms of design philosophy in comparison to other regions in Texas. “Our Hill Country architecture utilizes natural materials, reinforces a connection to the outdoors, and seeks to maximize the natural views and features that people love about this area,” Koch explains.

A team of architects must also be able to forecast future trends in design. The industry has seen a lot of change in this region with the expansion of homes and industries like wine.

“It’s been interesting to watch the evolution of the Hill Country style,” Mustard says. “Thirty years ago, farmhouse, Victorian with lots of gingerbread was all the rage and now its ‘Hill Country modern.’ The simple geometric forms and natural materials have remained, and this has provided a connection to the history and natural beauty of this place.”

Whether one’s design preference is traditional or contemporary, the Mustard design team is not limited to just one vision. It’s a team of visionaries that collaborate to enhance their client’s dream in a sustainable and unique way.

MUSTARD DESIGN ARCHITECTS

209 S. Llano Street, Suite B

Fredericksburg, TX 78624

Photographer Wingman Imagery

Photographer Wingman Imagery

Photographer Steve Rawls

Photo by Levi Kelly. IG: @levimkelly

Njem Haus is a travel-inspired guesthouse for you and your family. A modern yet cozy retreat for couples and families looking for rest, comfort and fun together.

Settlers

Pecan Oil Bath - Skincare - Fragrance

A Luxu ry Hote l Pillow made

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select the pillow size (standard,

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YBP pillow feels and ac ts like a luxury down pillow but is hypoallergenic

it is made from the highest

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MAKERS

The Texas Hill Country is filled with a vibrant DIY subculture that shows its creativity and reflects a rich tradition. All of them help define this area as a unique “Makers” region. We introduce you to our new makers.

Photo by Kimberly Giles

MOD WEST

By ADA BROUSSARD

Photos by KEVIN CHUPIK

a full moon, and the Palm Springs swimming pool is lit up with hues gradating from Caribbean turquoise to a shade of light sherbert, not unlike the frothy color of a 1950’s Christmas punch. The background is a dusky scene, featuring a retro ranch house, a darkened desert mountain range, and two towering palm trees, seemingly old and with a thick beard of dead leaves hanging beneath the gray-green ones. In the center of the foreground leading into the pool is a diving board, and standing at its edge, we see the back of a rodeo cowboy, still sporting his number 15 tag, riding chaps, and a felt hat. He’s staring into the pool’s crystal depths, maybe contemplating a plunge, a recent performance, or a western romance.

Really, we can’t know what the cowboy at the edge of the diving board is thinking, and according to the painter Kevin Chupik, who brought the scene to life, the why isn’t as important as the what. It’s a provocate painting that makes you look and wonder. “I tend not to dwell upon all the baggage that the fine art gallery people try to saddle me with. Pun intended,” he chuckles.

Chupik was born in Fort Worth, but in 1977 when he was 9 years old, he moved to Tuscon with his family. Their house was on the edge of town, and young Kevin could walk from his neighborhood home to the threshold of the Sonoran Desert, the wild setting for his indoctrination to the southwestern aesthetic. Surrounded by saguaros, he’d bring his BB gun to hunt rabbits and small fowl, drying the hides and cataloging the feathers in Ziplock bags.

At least once every other week, the family would visit a nearby dude ranch where the naturalist painter Ray Harm just so happened to be working, a subtle but formative introduction to fine art.

Chupik embraced his playground easily and wholly. Those years, “gave me a real mature understanding of what it was to be alone out in the wild. And I was. My sister and I never had a babysitter. We were unattended all day long. That’s kind of where everything started.”

Chupik got a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University. (This is also where he met his wife Andrea, who was studying graphic design.) While in college, he went on a school-sponsored trip to Santa Fe where he and other TCU students stayed at Georgia O’Keeffe’s ghost ranch. At the time, the trip felt no more than a collegiate romp, but in hindsight, Chupik sees it as something else: “It was really pivotal to the kind of work I was making — work that was very much about the West and landscape. I was trying to marry it to sculptural forms. The trip was really a kind of continuation of the aesthetic that Tuscon put into my soul.”

After graduation, Kevin and Andrea moved to Boulder so he could pursue an MFA, a seeming footnote to the easy access Colorado granted him to the mountains and high desert where the real adventure happened. “That’s really when my fiendish approach to the outdoors started,” he said. “I logged 16 [mountain biking] trips one year to southeastern Utah, Four Corners area.”

After Boulder, the couple moved to Las Vegas, deeper in the desert and surrounded by a landscape whose archaeology and ecology enchanted him. “At that time, it was my favorite place on earth.”

A month and a half after landing in Vegas, Kevin had a serious mountain bike accident that left him in a wheelchair. Decades later, he easily articulates the choice he was presented with, “I either have to reinvent myself or be miserable. And I chose to reinvent myself and I focused more on contemporary work.”

“Fading Light” 24" x 18" – acrylic on birch

A lot of life has happened since the accident. Kevin and Andrea have built careers and had a daughter, Ava. They also moved back to Texas, eventually settling south of Fort Worth near Kevin’s family. All the while, Kevin has been painting, developing a style that is recognizable for its unique themes and alluring juxtaposition of the old west in a new form.

The walls of Kevin’s studio room are lined with vintage Western novelties like colorful plastic figurines and Rin Tin Tin memorabilia. It’s clear that he’s an enthusiast of nostalgia, able to pluck character or pantone inspiration from vintage Western motifs. “I’ve always been a collector of images. I am grabbing an image and tucking it away. I’ve got thousands of them. I keep some on the back burner.”

And some get brought to the forefront, combined in a way that’s interesting and suddenly alluring. Using software like Procreate, Kevin can understand what works well together before putting brush to board. “Whatever I need to do to create that vision that I have in my head, that concept… whether it’s drawing, painting or sculpture, painting or assemblage, whatever it is. The image is important to me.”

Chupik works in acrylic, a medium that helps him move fast, like a barrel racer rounding the bend.

“I think a lot of my inspiration comes from my longtime favorite artists, or one of them, René Magritte,” best known for his surrealist images of clouds, bowler hats, and green apples. “When you get that moment where there’s a little bit of suspended disbelief, that what you’re looking at isn’t, in fact, real or possible,” he said.

Referring to one of his more popular paintings of a lone bison standing in an empty convenience store parking lot and staring at an ice machine, Chupik says, “I think the main thing I tried to do is make things that might be improbable possible.” Certainly, there could be a

world where a mammoth bison gazes upon a glowing ice machine, but would there be?

Many of Kevin’s characters — mostly cowboys and at least one buffalo — have a faraway feel to them, but their placement in a classically vintage mid-century modern aesthetic makes them as familiar as your childhood lunchbox. For this reason, Chupik’s art is approachable and likable. He recently hit the Instagram algorithmic jackpot, gaining several thousand new fans in a short amount of time, and nudging him into the category of “micro-influencer,” a distinction of which Kevin’s deeply skeptical. For better or worse, the social media platform is helping him sell paintings directly to collectors, skipping the gallery step altogether.

Like a good movie, viewing a good painting can transport you. But how about the act of creating one? “It’s my passport to access,” Chupik says. “And it’s kind of liberating in that way. I’m not restrained from any corner of the West in that regard, whether it’s Eastern Oregon or Southern Colorado or, you know, rolling hills on Montana. It’s a time period that goes between the mid-1800s all the way up to our present time. And in the way that Photoshop and Procreate work, I can place myself contextually in that area, I think largely because I know those tactile responses [of the West], the feelings. I know what it’s like — the crunch of the ground, the smell of the air, all those things. The nostalgia is so visceral to me. It’s probably the thing that keeps me going back. Really the desire to try and transport people along with me, like ‘come along!’ It’s more like I’m a tour guide in that way, and I’m sharing what I find to be very important.”

To see his work, head to his website kevinchupik.com or follow along on Instagram @kevinchupik.

THE NOSTALGIA IS SO VISCERAL TO ME. IT’S PROBABLY THE THING THAT KEEPS ME GOING BACK.. REALLY THE DESIRE TO TRY AND TRANSPORT PEOPLE ALONG WITH ME, LIKE ‘COME ALONG!

Kevin Chupik

“Desert Solitaire” 48" x 24" – acrylic on birch

TOUCH OF FELT

By SALLIE LEWIS Photos by KIMBERLY GILES

ince 1852, the landmark Nimitz Hotel building, located on the corner of E. Main St. and N. Washington, has witnessed the changing face of downtown Fredericksburg. Most recently, one of the city’s newest businesses opened just across the street from this historic institution.

Kelsey Morgan and Hannah Copes are the Fredericksburg transplants and co-owners behind Felt Boutique, a womenswear shop with a popular Hat Bar experience that’s elevating the city’s style scene.

Before moving to the Hill Country, Kelsey grew up in New Braunfels and taught math to middle school students. Hannah, on the other hand, hails from Louisiana and pursued a career in retail after graduating from Texas Tech University. She remembers finding her love of fashion from an early age thanks to her father. “He has been color blind his whole life which can be quite an obstacle when picking out outfits,” she said. “Shopping with my dad became one of my favorite things to do and it’s how I learned that I wanted clothing to be my creative outlet.”

Kelsey and Hannah met one another through their husband and fiancée, respectively, who are not only business partners but best friends from Fredericksburg. Combining their shared love of fashion, the women sought out to open a boutique with a unique and stylish bent. Selling clothing was an obvious choice, but by adding hats to their inventory, they believed they could stand apart.

“I’ve had a hat wall in my home since I was eighteen,” Kelsey shared. Later when she got married, she hired someone to create a hat customized with special details like her wedding date. “I loved how personal it felt when I wore it and I wanted to bring that sentiment to others.” Luckily, Hannah shared in her enthusiasm, and together, they came up with the idea for a Hat Bar in their shop. “Had we not thrown it in we would have been just another boutique,” said Kelsey. “The Hat Bar really added a special element to our store.”

That decision ultimately proved fruitful for the young entrepreneurs who opened their doors in March 2022. On the first Friday after opening, a customer came in and posted a video of the Hat Bar that went viral on TikTok. More than 3,400,000 views later, Kelsey and Hannah had customers lining up on the street, with some waiting two to three hours to design their own hat.

After the video went viral, the shop’s rapid surge in popularity forced the founders to make the Hat Bar a “by appointment” service, thereby enabling their team of roughly ten stylists and associates to provide each client with the one-on-one attention they deserve. “Appointmentonly makes the experience so much more relaxed and personal,” Kelsey said.

Today, the Hat Bar is the heart of Felt Boutique and both Kelsey and Hannah have built an environment that is polished yet rustic, fun and inclusive. Drinks are provided when guests walk in and the team enjoys getting to know each client, along with their interests and preferences. “Strangers become friends at our Hat Bar,” they said.

Stepping off of Main Street and into Felt Boutique, that warm, inclusive ambiance can be felt straight away. Clothing, jewelry and accessories are styled around a pair of leather “Husband Chairs,” as the co-founders call them, which offer a place for partners and friends to sit and relax while clients shop.

The Hat Bar lives along the boutique’s eastern wall, where technicolor toppers by the likes of GIGI PIP and Twister brighten the room in shades of maroon and mushroom, olive and charcoal, dusty rose and a new fall color called cinnamon. Beneath these hats, a long table holds a treasure trove of goods including spools of rope, leather, and ribbon fashioned of burlap, dyed silk, and linen. Wooden cups filled with decorative adornments stand at attention, from shafts of wheat and dried baby’s breath to sprigs of lavender and Turkey, Pheasant, and Guinea fowl feathers.

Every client begins their appointment by selecting the style and size of their hat. The base price for a straw version ranges from $80 to $160 while the felt options run from $112 to $176. There’s a $100 flat-fee for decoration and clients can add as much or as little detail as desired. While some may opt for a simple silk ribbon or their name spelled out in miniature metallic letters, others embrace a “more is more” philosophy, layering textures and colors for a look entirely their own.

Though every hat is an expression of the clientele’s unique and personal style, Kelsey and Hannah admit it is the people they’ve met along the way that makes their work worthwhile. During one appointment, a bride-to-be brought in her mother’s veil and asked for help making a hat especially for her wedding day. “It was intimidating but turned out so beautiful and was one of my most special memories,” said Kelsey. “We even branded her wedding date underneath the brim!”

One of Hannah’s favorite memories came from a motherdaughter-duo who brought in their late husband and father’s hat band from his beloved cowboy hat. “We created the most amazing hat through tears and laughter and that is something none of us will ever forget,” she said. “We are very biased when it comes to our clientele in that we truly believe we have the best customers who travel all over to see us. Whether it is a bachelorette group, high school reunion, or a husband and wife, we get to create something special which is always an exciting time.”

Together, Kelsey and Hannah do everything as a team, from paying the bills to finding new vendors, and stocking the Hat Bar with the latest styles and trends. In just half a year’s time, their business has boomed and today, they possess a palpable gratitude for the Fredericksburg community that’s embraced them on their journey.

“The support we have experienced is unmatched,” said Hannah. Kelsey agrees saying, “The thing I love most about Fredericksburg is the small town feel and how all the stores on the main strip, including ourselves, give local discounts and just rally together and support one another.”

The founders even sponsored the local Stonewall Peach Court this past year by making the girls custom hats to wear at the rodeo. “It was so much fun seeing all the people at our small town rodeo who had made a hat with us,” Kelsey said. “We felt the love that weekend!”

Visit Felt Boutique at 339 E Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624 and follow along on Instagram @feltboutique_.

Kelsey Morgan and Hannah Copes

Barons Creek Vineyards

THIS AIN’T JUST WINE COUNTRY

HOME OF THE FIRST LEGAL BOURBON DISTILLERY IN TEXAS AND 4-TIME US MICRO WHISKEY OF THE YEAR

Garrison Brothers Distillery in the Texas Hill Country is dedicated to true Southern hospitality. When you’re here, you’ll feel the warmth of our Texas spirit, alongside the aroma of our sweet mash and the soothing hum of our copper pot-stills making more bourbon. Distillery tours take place at 10, noon, 2 and 4. But you don’t have to take a tour to taste our bourbon. We serve our bourbon flights Tuesday through Saturday from 10 to 5. You can make your distillery tour reservation here:

HILL

“News of the World,” by Paulette Jiles

By MEGAN WILLOME

aulette Jiles has written numerous books, including memoir, nonfiction, and poetry, but she is best known for her 2016 National Book Award finalist, “News of the World.”

At a public reading in June at Ursa at Branch on High in Comfort, Jiles read excerpts of “Song to the Rising Sun,” a poem from her collection “Flying Lesson,” and selections from her forthcoming novel, “The Solitary Telegrapher,” due out next year. When it was time to take questions, most of them were about “News of the World.”

It’s not a long novel—only 240 pages. Her editor said it could be longer, but Jiles has a sense about these things: “I’ve come to the end,” she told her editor. “It’s like salt precipitating out of a salt solution, and it crystallizes.”

“News of the World” is a journey story, set in 1870s Texas. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a 71-year-old war veteran, must return a girl named Johanna to her German relatives, 400 miles away. The story has been described as “Lonesome Dove” meets “True Grit.”

Captured four years earlier by the Kiowa, Johanna has no memories—and no interest—in her prior life. When she meets Captain Kidd, she does not speak, but this is what she is thinking, in the Kiowa language of “tonal music [that] lived in her head like bees.”

“My name is Cicada. My father’s name is Turning Water. My mother’s name is Three Spotted. I want to go home.”

That bold sentence doesn’t appear in the 2020 movie version because a film can’t get inside a person’s head the way a book can. The movie is well done, with great performances by Tom Hanks, as Captain Kidd, and Helena Zengel, as Johanna, but it lacks the beautiful interiority of Jiles’ book.

Johanna and Captain Kidd become like family — a grandfather and grandchild — as they travel in the Curative Waters wagon, making periodic stops so Kidd can do public readings of the news of the world from newspapers. She and her “Kep-dun” have to defend themselves against dangers of all kinds. You’ll never look at a dime the same way again.

From an early age, Jiles came to love stories with danger. Her mother read to the children at night and sometimes made-up stories, “and they were bloody,” Jiles said.

Before she was a novelist, Jiles was a poet. She won Canada’s most prestigious poetry prize, the Governor’s Award, in 1984 for “Celestial Navigation.”

Writing poetry taught her to value the phrase.

“The basic unit of composition of poetry is the phrase. In prose, the basic unit is the sentence. I was a poet first, so I became acquainted with the phrase first,” Jiles said. “Think of Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass,’ with its long lines — he knew when to break his lines.”

Her attention to the phrase may explain my favorite sentence from “News of the World.” After another harrowing adventure, Johanna is asleep, and Captain Kidd reviews what supplies they will need when they reach the next town.

“He made a list: feed, flour, ammunition, soap, beef, candles, faith, hope, charity.”

This is the über list. It’s all we will ever need to take care of our animals, to cook, to clean, to hunt and gather and protect, and to nourish each other. We would all be better people if every grocery list ended with “faith, hope, charity.”

Jiles mentioned that she had recently reread Homer’s “The Odyssey,” which is also about a journey home. In Emily Wilson’s translation, the story begins, “Tell me about a complicated man.” The relations between white settlers and Native Americans are complicated in Jiles’ story because the history is complicated. Johanna wants to go home to the Kiowa, but they don’t want her anymore because her presence has become a threat to them.

Jiles’ interest in Indigenous peoples is longstanding. Although she was raised in the Ozarks of Missouri, she worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Commission for 10 years in the sub-Arctic, helping set up 1-watt FM radio and printing a newspaper in Ojibwe.

“Distribution was a problem. We could only could do it by bush plane. We couldn’t land, so we shoved garbage bags full of newspapers out,” Jiles said.

Her own home is a ranch near Utopia. She writes in her upstairs study, she rides horses with friends, and she tends to her animals.

“It’s why I don’t live in the city,” Jiles said. “I’m sensitive to every person, every smell. I have to keep things quiet because I don’t have a filter.”

Away from the noise of urban life, she writes phrases that become sentences that become a plot people are still clamoring to discuss six years later. All of us are on a journey home. “News of the World” helps us notice the beauty and the friendship along the way. R&V

HORNING IN ON TEXAS WINE

THE RHINORY COMBINES CONSERVATION AND LOVE OF WINE

By AMY DROHEN

Photos provided by RHINORY

raig Stevens, co-owner of the Rhinory, and his wife, Chesney Castleberry, have successfully combined their passion for quality wine and wildlife conservation through the opening of their new venture, the Rhinory.

The Rhinory is a winery and rhinoceros conservation facility on a sprawling 55 acres right off the 290 wine road. The vision of the Rhinory sprouted about two years ago when Stevens and Castleberry visited South Africa where the couple witnessed firsthand the consequences of poaching. They came to understand that despite the best efforts to protect the rhinos in South Africa with monster fences and military-style security, this alone was not enough to keep persistent poachers at bay and preserve the rhino population.

After returning from South Africa, the couple visited a Hill Country winery and realized they could combine their two passions in this region. Craig and Chesney’s dedication to the conservatory are deep and genuine. “It is something that is part of the core of who we are,” Stevens said.

They currently employ two rhino keepers, one of whom has 33 years of experience and is part of the Rhino Keepers Association, and is in the process of hiring a third.

“We are very serious about rhino conservation not only locally but also worldwide,” Stevens said. The current resident rhino “Blake,” along with his passionate rhino keepers, helps educate guests and encourage others to care about rhino conservation. Guests may enjoy “keeper talks” where the rhino keepers share their passion through talks and education onsite. Guests are also encouraged to book a Rhino Experience which includes a 30- to 45-minute tour where their two rhino keepers offer an opportunity to tour the barn, talk about the facility, and rhinos in general, and go over safety protocols for their visit with Blake.

Guests may then go to the enclosure where the rhino keepers guide guests through a personal visit with Blake. One hundred percent of the fees of the Rhino Experience goes to the International Rhino Foundation. The Rhinory has made a five-year commitment to support the Texas-based charity International Rhino Foundation which focuses on the conservation of the five species of rhinoceros.

“People genuinely love what we are doing and are very vocal about it. Having something [that is] more than just a business, it is giving back to the world,” Stevens said.

The response to the Rhinory was beyond his expectations. He knew people would favorably react to the Rhinory, but it blew his mind that the general reaction was so positive. Stevens and Castleberry have two children of their own and wanted to create a place that is also family friendly. The pair welcomes families to come out and experience the conservatory and notably provide juice boxes and snacks for the kids.

Currently, the Rhinory offers three wine-tasting menus with a balanced portfolio of 50% Texas wines and 50% South African wines. “What I love about South African wine is like Texas, they stick to what they are good at,” Stevens said. “South Africa has unique varieties, like Pinotage. They claim this grape and they kill it. Texas has gotten there; Texas embraces what works for them.

“Texas in general is producing really good wine,” he said. “The skills of Texas winemakers in the past few years are raising the bar and we want to be part of that raising of the bar.”

In late spring the Rhinory team planted 3.5 acres of varietals that include Tempranillo, Merlot, and Sangiovese on their Estate property.

Notably, the Rhinory has done well on the winery circuit including TEXSOM 2022 with five Judges’ Selection medals, two bronze medals, four silver medals, and one platinum medal.

Salvation

GHOST NOTE STRIKES A CHORD

A ‘WHO’S THAT?’ BREWERY THAT IS MAKING ITS MARK

By LEE NICHOLS

Photos provided by GHOST NOTE BREWING

ne of the ways you can tell a region’s craft brewing scene is maturing is when new breweries start popping up faster than even you, the dedicated beer connoisseur, can keep up. A friend raves about a quality brewery, and you reply,

“Who? Where’s that?”

That’s the point the Hill Country is now reaching.

In June, the first-ever Fredericksburg Craft Brewing Festival (FCBF) was held, awarding gold, silver and bronze medals in 10 categories. Among the 17 competing breweries were some of the most recognizable names in Texas beer.

The most prolific winner, taking home four medals, was — drumroll, please — Ghost Note Brewing!

Who? Where’s that?

You probably weren’t alone saying that. They are a fairly new kid on the block, starting up just last year.

The “where’s that” is on Ranch Road 12, five miles south of Dripping Springs.

The “who” is owners Kenny and Thelma Coleman and talented young brewer Tyrell Elliott.

And then there’s the “what”: The standout beers from Ghost Note at FCBF were silver medalists Texas Sun, a saison, and Dusty Bronco, a hazy IPA; and bronze winners Painted Porch, a pilsner, and Anniversary 1 Whiskey Barrel Porter.

Texas Sun was actually not new to winning awards — in February, it also took home a silver from the Texas Craft Brewers Cup, a much larger competition featuring 131 breweries.

“That was our first taste of a medal,” says Elliott, admitting, “it’s a little addictive.”

For Elliott, the medals were a recognition for a job well done. For the Colemans, it was confirmation of hiring well done.

“We felt like what we got in Tyrell was not somebody who was stuck in their ways, not someone [who says] this is how they want to do it and this is how they’ve always done it, but somebody who was willing to learn and grow,” Kenny says. “He’s a student of beermaking, always looking for ways to do things better or different.”

“That was neat,” Elliott says of the FBCF awards. “It’s a nice little validation, because, you know, out here people seem to enjoy the beer, but nobody’s going to tell you to your face, so it’s nice to have a formal acknowledgement from judges.”

Like so many Hill Country breweries, Ghost Note leans heavily on the area’s greatest asset, the natural scenery. The property, which used to be a wedding venue, features an open patio by the bar and brewhouse on one end, a music stage on the other, and in between, tables and seating shaded by gorgeous live oaks. The feel aims to be “hanging out on the porch.”

“We knew we could do the atmosphere right,” Kenny says, and they do — it’s like relaxing in the back yard with some beer and music. On the afternoon we visited, Rochelle & the Sidewinders had everyone grooving to some tasty R&B and pop.

“We just needed to get the beer to go with it. We had no idea how to find a brewer. We just placed an ad in the paper and online.

“We interviewed a handful of people, but I think when we met Tyrell, he came prepared and this was the opportunity he was looking for. We hit it off, we had the same idea about what kind of beers we wanted to put together, what we wanted to experiment with and what we didn’t, and it’s been a great fit.”

drinkery

Elliott began his brewing journey eight years ago at Thirsty Planet, which is now located in Austin but began in the Hill Country on Circle Drive, basically a pioneer of what has become the Fitzhugh Road “Libation Lane” scene.

“I got lucky with my first job,” Elliott says. “I had no formal training. I learned at Thirsty Planet from the ground up. I didn’t have a lot of preconceived notions and felt I had to prove myself. I was an avid reader about beer.”

Hanging out on the porch, Elliott says, mostly calls for lighter brews that go down smooth in the Texas heat.

“We don’t have a strong beer point of view here, but with the hospitality and second back yard mentality, our beers are like that. The idea is that they’re approachable to everybody and kind of ‘porch beers.’”

By now, you’re probably wondering about the meaning of the brewery’s name. “Ghost note” is a musical term, Kenny says, defined as a note that is felt more than heard.

“We really wanted a musical focus here, and wanted a musical name,” Kenny says.

They didn’t stop with just the business name — the various tanks and barrels inside the brewery all have appellations that will be instantly recognizable to lovers of Texas music: Leon, Norah, Shakey, Tanya, Kris, Edie, and Stevie Ray, among others. Elliott is especially proud of a pair of foeders — large wooden tanks used for aging and fermenting — named Willie and Waylon.

The ghost note concept also fits Elliott’s brewing. “Approachable” doesn’t have to mean bland — it just means the flavors might have the subtlety of the brewery’s namesake. Take, for example, the Painted Porch. Sure, pilsner is the same basic style as most mainstream American

beers, but take a minute to really let it hit all your taste buds before you swallow — you’ll notice some subtle complexity going on that those bigger brewers lack.

“Craft brewing went so far against blandness that it went too far,” Elliott opines. “But consumer knowledge is up, and beer knowledge is spreading. There’s a curiosity that wasn’t here before.”

Hanging out on the porch also requires something to munch on. Ghost Note doesn’t have its own kitchen, but you can fill up on a rotating food truck lineup.

When we visited, the slot was filled by Betty Maes, which served up very satisfying “Gulf Coast kitchen down-home cooking.” Diners can feast on fried seafood baskets and po-boys for entrees, and among the appetizers, the “swamp fries” — baby shrimp, pickled okra, tomato, fried jalapenos and green onions drizzled in cheddar cheese — drew rave reviews from the table.

Easy-drinking brews, hearty food, grooving music, shade trees — it’s a deceptively simple formula.

“We allow families and dogs,” says Thelma. “When people come out here, they enjoy their time with their families and the experience.”

“The vibe is right here,” says Elliott.

GHOST NOTE BREWING

RANCH ROAD 12

GHOST NOTE LANE

SPRINGS, TX 78620

R&V

Owned

Airis'Ele Vineyards is recognized for entertaining intimate tastings with our world-class hospitality.

Our unique tasting room combines modern architectural style with the natural attributes while offering a panoramic view of the majestic oaks and wildlife on the Beckmann Draw

SUGGESTED

DOG DAYS:

BROWN-EYED GIRLS: KATE & PAISLEY SCHULSE of TURTLE CREEK VINEYARD & TURTLE CREEK OLIVES & VINES

By SALLIE LEWIS Photos by KIMBERLY GILES

ehind every bottle of Texas Hill Country wine, there’s a hard-working team with a story to tell. At Kerrville’s Turtle Creek Vineyard and Turtle Creek Olives & Vines, that team is led by the tight-knit Schulse family.

Dan and Sue Schulse moved to Kerrville from Houston in 2015 and bought a beautiful property on Lower Turtle Creek the following year. Today, that property is a private working farm, vineyard, and winery production facility. Visitors from near and far can sample the fruits of their labor in downtown Kerrville, where their Tasting Room is tucked into a distinguished Masonic building from 1890 that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For Dan and Sue, the business is a true family affair. In fact, all of their kids are involved with the company and even the four-legged family members oversee the day-to-day operations.

Kate Schulse is the couple’s yellow Labrador Retriever, named as a nod to the 1965 John Wayne film, “The Sons of Katie Elder.” At eight-years-old, Kate still has a puppy-like personality, waking up every morning and bouncing with joy, as if there were springs in her paws.

Kate’s partner in crime is a twelve-year-old Blue Heeler named Paisley who belongs to Carl, the couple’s son and Turtle Creek’s Tasting Room Manager. Together, the dogs hold court at the family farm, where they can usually be found in the back of the John Deere Gator “overseeing” the day’s work.

“Sometimes they don’t even get out of the truck,” said Sue. “They just sit like they’re supervisors or something. It’s really cute – they act like they’re in charge.”

In her younger years, Paisley showed off her breed’s herd ing prowess, often chasing the family’s farm animals, from the sheep to the pigs and the chickens. Over time, however, she has become more at ease with her fellow four-legged residents, even leaving the vineyard cat, Meower, at peace.

Carl got Paisley in 2010 when he was a freshman in college and prides himself on training her at a young age. One of the tricks she’s best known for involves sitting on her back haunches as a piece of savory steak is laid over her fore head. For three or four minutes, Paisley waits patiently for her prize, only relenting when she hears the long-awaited snap of Carl’s fingertips.

Meanwhile, Kate has countless charms of her own. “Kate is the beta dog and she is everybody’s best friend,” said Sue. “Her goal in life is to give every human being an opportu nity to pet her.” Whether that’s the UPS driver, the FedEx delivery man, the person cleaning the windows or some one farther afield, Kate will be there, with nose in hand, or collapsed at their feet, begging for a scratch. “She’s got little white wings on her shoulders,” Sue shared. “She really is an angel.”

Sue and Dan often laugh thinking back on Kate’s past duck hunting adventures. Though she’s proven herself at fetch ing quail and dove on dry land, ducks are decidedly not her forte. “I’ve got this great picture with Dan and Kate,” Sue chuckled. “Kate is standing on the shore of the lake and my husband is chest-high in waders walking with ducks in hand towards the shore. She’s looking at him like, ‘Good Job, Daddy!’”

These days, Kate and Paisley are happiest roaming the farm, keeping critters at bay, and checking in on the guests who are staying at the property’s villa house. “They are happy pups,” Sue said of their brown-eyed girls. “They are a good team and they love being together.”

R&V

TEXAS HILL COUNTRY’S PREMIER LIVE MUSIC VENUE

Nestled deep in the heart of the beautiful Texas Hill Country, The Backyard in Fredericksburg, TX was opened in 2016 as a dream fueled by a deep love of music, and a passion for making memories with and for the communities & people of Central Texas. Whether you’re a Fredericksburg local, weekend-visitor, or here to experience Texas’ incredibly rich culture — EVO Concerts combines a unique live music experience with its goal of visionary amphitheater offerings, world-class lights & audio, and the hosting of top-tier musicians all within the scenic Hill Country views to create an unforgettable entertainment experience. Our vision is simple, to be a destination for everyone to come together for a good time. See ya’ at the show!

PAST ARTISTS: BILLY RAY CYRUS / TRAVIS TRITT / JOSH ABBOTT BAND / PARKER MCCOLLUM GRANGER SMITH /JASON BOLAND / CODY JINKS / RANDY ROGERS / KEVIN FOWLER LEE BRICE / JON WOLFE / MARSHALL TUCKER BAND / WILLIAM CLARK GREEN

UPCOMING

AT:

AB ASTRIS WINE IS OF THE STARS

By LORELEI HELMKE Photos provided by AB ASTRIS

ust off the Highway 290 wine trail sits a boutique winery that offers spectacular wines in a gorgeous setting amidst its estate vineyards.

This little piece of Texas utopia is located next to the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and worth seeking out.

Ab Astris is a family-owned endeavor with Mike Nelson making the wines. Nelson studied with John Rivenburgh of Kerrville Hills Winery. He expertly honed his winemaking talents and has created his own delectable style.

Together with his wife Kristen and co-founders Aaron and Tony Smith, plus a little help from celestial bodies, Ab Astris has created a stellar winery serving heavenly Texas wines.

2020 Roussanne

Hooper Valley Vineyard

Kingsland

Medium straw hues in the glass with a bouquet of lemony orange blossom, Granny Smith apple and a hint of apricot. A crisp finish on the end begs for chilled shrimp and lobster.

2021 Fiano Pepperjack Vineyard

Texas High Plains

Fiano is a white varietal with Italian origins. This Texas-grown wine is spectacular with aromas of white peach, pineapple, lemon grass and white rose petals. Hints of slate keep it crisp and dry with mouthwatering acidity on the lingering finish.

Serve this one with ceviche, redfish or goat cheese.

2021 Aurora Rose

La Pradera – Reddy Vineyard

Texas High Plains

One of three rosés offered in an all-rosé tasting, beautiful pink salmon color graces the glass. Whiffs of red rose petals, strawberries, watermelon, Rainer cherry envelope the senses while red plum aromas hover on top.

A perfect wine to have with lunch. Great with a watermelon, arugula, feta salad or Chevre cheese.

2019 Grenache

Desert Willow Vineyards

Texas

This medium, garnet-hued chillable red offers up a heady fragrance of violets, red cherry, ripe cranberry and strawberries. Notes of tobacco leaf bolster the complexity.

Balanced acidity and a light tannin structure complement the clean finish. A perfect Texas red as it can be served chilled in our Texas heat.

Pair with balsamic grilled chicken or bacon wrapped pork roast.

2018 Cabernet Sauvignon

Newsome Vineyard

Texas High Plains

Thirty-three percent aged in new American oak for 32 months. A bold red on ruby hues that delivers dark cherry and black plum fruits with interlaced touches of tobacco spice, licorice cloves, soft leather and ripe black olive. An almond nuttiness rounds out the nose. Well integrated tannin structure and on point acidity linger on the long finish.

Need I say it? A perfect companion to grilled ribeye steaks and Stilton cheese wedge salad.

2019 Montepulciano Reddy Vineyards

Texas High Plains

An ambrosia of strawberry jam, ripe cherry, brambleberry pie and violets engulf the nose. A background note of sweet Tuscan melon adds a little spark. Satin tannins and graceful acidity show on the long, long finish. Lovely accompaniment to prosciutto wrapped melon and steak Florentine.

2018 Tannat Newsome Vineyard

Texas High Plains

Gorgeous inky ruby color, sumptuous fragrance of ripe cherries mingled with mission figs, blackberry preserves, and black current with a dusting of cocoa. This delectable wine offers a soft mouthfeel, and silky tannins on the extended finish. A delicious match for prime rib with rosemary of asada.

CUSTOM HAT

Rock&Vine

WELCOME TO YOUR HOME IN THE TEXAS

WELCOME TO YOUR HOME IN THE TEXAS

HILL COUNTRY.

HILL COUNTRY.

Discover our family-owned, boutique wine resort in a rustic-meets-upscale oasis in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Stay in our spacious villas with luxury amenities. Pamper yourself in The Spa. Whether you’re visiting for a day or a much needed get away, Carter Creek Winery Resort & Spa is the perfect escape.

Discover our family-owned, boutique wine resort in a rustic-meets-upscale oasis in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Stay in our spacious villas with luxury amenities. Pamper yourself in The Spa. Whether you’re visiting for a day or a much needed get away, Carter Creek Winery Resort & Spa is the perfect escape.

WINE, DINE & BREW

WINE, DINE & BREW

Equal parts rustic and refined, Old 290 Brewery combines Hill Country craft beer with hearty, Texas-inspired cuisine featuring locally-sourced ingredients Enjoy awardwinning wines inspired by a founding family of Texas Wine Country. In true Lone Star State style, enjoy live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night, and BBQ from JC Smokehouse.

Equal parts rustic and refined, Old 290 Brewery combines Hill Country craft beer with hearty, Texas-inspired cuisine featuring locally-sourced ingredients Enjoy awardwinning wines inspired by a founding family of Texas Wine Country. In true Lone Star State style, enjoy live entertainment every Friday and Saturday night, and BBQ from JC Smokehouse.

ROCK & VINE FALL LAUNCH PARTY

By KEN ESTEN COOKE

Photos by KIMBERLY GILES

Ken Esten Cooke, Bob Petersen and Debra Wilks

Dawn Robins and Courtney Daher

Elena Bigler, Tina Melcher, Dirk Jordan and Andrew Bigler

Faith Geistweidt, Jessica Thomas, Stephanie Choquette, Lauren Burdett, and Jay Choquette from RootologyKeri and Jason Hensley of WineCub

Mixologist staff of Salvation Spirits

Jasper Eisenberg, Paula Salinas, Connie Priest from Grace Center

Astrid making her signature Lavender Lady

ock & Vine held its summer issue launch party at The Speakeasy at Salvation Spirits, pairing with owner Trey Blocker and his fabulous crew of mixed-drink meisters. Proceeds from Blocker’s generous donations of a percentage of drinks that evening went to The Grace Center, a domestic violence shelter being constructed in Gillespie County. The facility was designed by the architects at Mustard Design, the firm we feature in this edition, and those attending got a peek at the design plans and heard from members of The

Grace Center board and staff. We had a pleasant summer evening on the porch, cooled by the cocktails made by the Speakeasy team. We’re grateful for their partnership and their support of the same things we consider important to our region and quality of life. Please visit The Grace Center at https://thegracecenterfbg.org and make a tax-deductible donation, or swing by The Schatze Haus, which helps fund The Grace Center’s operations, at 712 W. Main St. to find some treasures and help the organization.

Danita Jarreau and Paige Travis Conn

Jonathon Schneider and Sallie Lewis

Vannesa TosoniSusan / TX Heritage / Billy Johnson State Farm

Cindy Gonzalez and Donna Mitchell

notesEND

STACKED PEAR SALAD WITH OROBIANCO BLANCO FRESCO

3 asian pears, sliced on mandoline or by hand, ¼" thick 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp local honey ¾ cup OroBianco blanco fresco or other crumbly cheese like goat cheese

Handful frisee or other spring mix tablespoon each salt and pepper

Slice pears by hand or on mandoline, brush with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add remaining lemon juice to cheese along with honey and pinch of salt and pepper. Spread cheese on each slice of pear and stack up to 5 pears high. Toss greens with lemon juice salt and pepper and add spring mix or frisee in between each pear and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

ACORN SQUASH WITH AGRODOLCE, OROBIANCO BUFFALETTA FETA, AND FLASH FRIED CHICKPEAS

1 acorn squash, seeds removed and cut into rounds 4 tbsp honey, divided 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/3 cup orange blossom vinegar

1 orange grated and juiced

5 or 6 sage leaves cut thin ½ can of drained and dried chickpeas sauteed in 2 tbsp hot evoo with pinch paprika and salt ½ cup OroBianco buffaletta feta, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190˚C).

Place the squash in a large bowl and drizzle it with the oil and 2 tablespoons of the honey.

Season with salt and pepper and toss until evenly coated.

Transfer the squash one large baking sheet.

Roast until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes per side, flipping the squash halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the cayenne, vinegar, orange juice, and remaining 2 tablespoons honey to a boil. Season with a pinch of salt.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the mixture is syrupy, 8 to 10 minutes. Just before serving, spoon the agrodolce over the squash. Garnish with the sage, chickpeas, and buffaletta cheese.

Recipes by ASHLEY ODOM, FEAST & MERRIMENT Photos by KIMBERLY GILES

ROASTED CARROT HUMMUS WITH FRESH CRUDITES

1 pound carrots, washed, cut into 1” pieces

3 tbsp orange flavored olive oil, divided 7.5 ounce can chickpeas, drained, reserve liquid ⅓ -½ cup liquid from chickpeas

2-3 cloves roasted garlic ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ½ cup OroBianco Blanco Fresco or other crumbly cheese like goat cheese

½ tsp orange zest

1 ½ tsp kosher salt ¾ tsp cumin powder ¾ tsp cardamom ½ tsp smoked paprika

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a mixing bowl, add the carrots, 1 tablespoon of oil, salt, cumin, cardamom, and smoked paprika. Mix well to coat.

Spread carrots on a sheet pan and roast for 30 minutes until fork tender.

Add the roasted carrots, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, chickpeas, ⅓ cup of chickpea water, garlic, lemon juice, zest, and blanco fresco to a food processor and blend on high until smooth. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of orange olive oil or chickpea water to thin it out, if needed.

Top with crumbles of blanco fresco, microgreens, roasted pepitas, black sunflower seeds or other crunchy bits of your choice.

BEET AND CITRUS SALAD WITH YOGURT, PISTACHIOS AND GOLDEN BERRIES

3 medium red beets

3 candy stripe beets

3 medium golden beets

2 tbsp orange extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling Salt and pepper

1⁄4 cup roasted salted pistachios

4 oranges of different varieties (ie blood, cara cara, mandarin, satsuma)

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

1 shallot sliced into thin rings

3⁄4 cup Greek yogurt

2 tbsp local honey

6 or so goldenberries, shucked and halved Sliced cured black olives (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425°F

Place 2 of each beet by itself in the center of a large piece of foil. Drizzle each one with oil, salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan with parchment paper until the beets are tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Unwrap the beets and let them cool 10 minutes. Use a paper towel to wipe off skins.

Take the 3 unroasted beets and shave thinly with a mandoline. Set aside.

Roughly chop the pistachios and slice olives in half (if using).

Squeeze the juice from a whole orange into a medium bowl. Add the shallot and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and whisk in the oil.

Using a sharp knife, remove the pith and peel from the remaining 3 oranges and slice them crosswise in ¼ in thick into rounds.

Cut the beets into wedges drizzle with dressing, making sure to keep the golden and red beets in separate as the red will “bleed” onto the other beets. Drizzle shaved beets with dressing as well.

Whisk the yogurt with honey, salt and pepper and drop mounds onto the platter and lightly smear in a circle. Arrange the orange slices, beet wedges and slices over the yogurt. Drizzle with orange oil and finish with cured olives, goldenberries, pistachios, a pinch of maldon salt and a smile.

Fredericksburg’s first one-stop destination to sip, savor + stay.

Sitting on 140 acres located on the Pedernales River. The Resort features on-site cottages for rent, The Edge tasting room, a five-story wine memberexclusive Tower, a seasonal food menu, incredible water features, golf putting green, and much more.

An elevated tasting room experience featuring English Newsom Cellars.

English Newsom Cellars is proud to be 100% Texasgrown, with one of the largest production facilities in the state. From the stem of the vine to the stem of the glass, each English Newsom wine is carefully crafted in the heart of the Texas High Plains.

Since 1965, Fredericksburg Realty has been known as the premier real estate brokerage firm in the Texas Hill Country. Over the years, we’ve helped families and investors discover the property of their dreams, from second homes to sprawling ranches and everything in between. Clean country air. Rolling green pastures. Breathtaking golden sunsets. Discover what could be, from our family to yours.