Fredericksburg Food & Wine Festival - Bonus 4 (Hill Country)

[00:00:06] Howdy Vine Trippers! I wanted to take just a moment to talk to you about the Texas wine lover website and their phone app for both iPhones as well as Google devices. You can

[00:00:17] actually download this app, put it on your phone or just go to the website if you're not an app person and if you ever want to go visit some of these great locations that we've

[00:00:25] been talking about in the podcast, this will give you a great information about the place before you go and you'll be able to find other wineries in the area so if you want to make

[00:00:34] a day of it, go see several other places as well. You can search by region, you can sort the listings, find ones that are kid-friendly, family-friendly, even ones that host RVs, all kinds of different

[00:00:45] sortable listings you can find there in that app and on the website. You can find other things as well in the area like restaurants, accommodations, maybe events that are going on at the different wineries so it's your one-stop resource that goes hand-in-hand with this podcast to be able

[00:01:01] to find those great places to go visit so check out the Texas Wine Lover website, it's txwinelover.com or go to their app you can find it on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store as well. Enjoy your trips among the vines and use that app.

[00:01:17] I'm the Texas Undervine, an exploratory podcast to scout out the best Texas Wine Country has to offer. I'm your wine guide Scott and I'm here to lead you on an auditory expedition to the vineyards and wineries across the great Lone Star State.

[00:01:56] Each episode will cover a different vineyard, winery or wine related business operating in Texas. You'll hear interviews, descriptions and details about each location that will excite you to visit and experience them for yourself. Ready to plan a wine tour?

[00:02:10] Use these episodes to choose the most interesting spots for you and your friends to check out. Most of all enjoy hearing about the rapidly growing wine industry in the state and what makes our wines and wineries the best.

[00:02:36] Howdy fellow Vine Tripper, welcome to bonus episode four for Texas Undervine. As you may know, if you're an avid listener ever so often I will divert from my normal content of interviewing different wine destinations and I will do some sort of an episode or interview about

[00:02:53] something that's kind of what I call wine adjacent businesses or events or things that are not necessarily a wine destination per se but have a big impact on the wine industry here in

[00:03:04] Texas and today is no exception. I have a real treat for you today as I was able to go out and interview the organizers of the newly revamped Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival that's

[00:03:19] going to be taking place in October of 2024. Now food and wine festivals aren't new to the wine industry as a matter of fact most of the major aviaries or American Village areas in

[00:03:31] the United States actually have some sort of a food and wine festival in that particular aviary area to celebrate the wines and the foods that they have in that particular area and actually the

[00:03:43] T.T.B., the Tax and Trade Bureau who is the governmental body that actually appoints and gives the full permit to establishment of new aviaries or American Village areas. That's one of the things they look for when they're analyzing that is, is there a wine culture in the

[00:04:00] area and a lot of times to determine if there's a wine culture for an aviary they will look for things like food and wine festivals. You may remember back in my episode with Fall Creek Vineyard

[00:04:11] when I spoke to Sergio Quadra he actually spoke of how Ed and Susan Auler were basically responsible and headed up and spearheaded getting the Texas Hill Country aviary established and that was one of the things they needed to show it was a wine region was Susan started a

[00:04:29] Hill Country Food and Wine Festival and ran that for a few years just to be able to establish and say yes there is a wine presence here in this particular area so the Fredericksburg Food and

[00:04:39] Wine Festival is no stranger to the area. It's actually been around since 1991 but over the last 10 to 15 years the region has changed so much there's been so much growth so many new wineries so many partners and players that it just really needed a revamped. So the Fredericksburg

[00:04:57] Chamber of Commerce actually tasked Haley Wakefield to head this project up to organize and present this brand new revamped Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival here in 2024. Now as part of her job duties she actually has appointed several people she's brought in Dave Bryant

[00:05:15] of Texas Wine Consulting to be her right hand man about the whole wine scene here he's got big hands into the Texas Wine Auction and the Texas Wine Industry here in Central Texas especially

[00:05:25] so he's a great resource and a great source of all kinds of information for her specifically on the wine side. However the Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival is not just going to be about wine and food they're also going to have things like craft beer distilleries involved

[00:05:41] they're really wanting to focus in on the local culture of food and wine and beverage and the area really highlights some of these amazing producers that we have throughout the Hill Country

[00:05:52] area and showcase those in a very elevated type of experience. And along that line this isn't your regular festival with corny dogs and funnel cakes and carnival rides and things like that no this

[00:06:04] is a real elevated experience you're going to get some incredible culinary bites and take some great wines and beers from local chefs and people who have come up right here in the

[00:06:15] Texas Hill Country area. As a matter of fact there's going to be a culinary demo stage where you can actually learn from some of those amazing chefs if you get your tickets to that demo stage

[00:06:24] there's only a handful for each of the different presentations but you can actually go in and get your hands on with some of these amazing chefs that are providing great food. Now there's also

[00:06:33] going to be a wine showcase area sponsored by the Texas Wine Auction and as you go in to this area you'll be able to taste wines from 30 to 50 different local wineries and you'll be able to sample all kinds of different things pair them with the different

[00:06:47] food bites that you get throughout the festival and if you find one of those that you really like there's even going to be a chance to bid on the possibility of getting a case of one of those

[00:06:58] favorite wines that you tasted there and all of those proceeds benefit the Texas Wine Auction and the incredible charities that they support. In addition they're going to have a whole area just about sparkling wines, they're going to have areas like I said for craft beer, distilling,

[00:07:12] they're even going to have a cool little mixology area sponsored by Becker Vineyards where you can kind of mix and make your own blend of wine. Now Haley and Dave had made a really important gesture

[00:07:23] I think for this particular festival in that they are really wanting this to be local to celebrate the local area so all people who are participating in the festival whether it's chefs or winemakers

[00:07:34] or distilleries or whoever it may be they must be members of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce and be local to the area so not bringing in people from all over outside of the place to be

[00:07:46] showcasing these things but these are all local foods, local eats, local drinks to really make it specific to the Texas Hill Country of Fredericksburg. And what's even better is you can also feel good in knowing that every dollar that you spend with the Fredericksburg Food Wine Festival

[00:08:01] is actually going to charity so they're a 501c3 you'll hear more about that in the interview and they plan to donate proceeds to some great charities that support especially the food and wine

[00:08:12] businesses in the local area. And one of my favorite things is that the night before the actual day of the festival they're going to host this really cool amazing 160 seat paired dinner and it's going

[00:08:26] to be blocked off in the middle of the street in downtown Fredericksburg on Austin Street and you'll be able to sit out with the lights and out on this in the middle of the street

[00:08:34] that's blocked off and enjoy these incredible bites served and paired with some amazing wines from local Texas producers and that's going to be a really cool fun elegant event that they haven't really seen before at an event like this here in Fredericksburg. That is definitely an event that

[00:08:48] you don't want to miss. Now all thanks to Arrowhead Creek Vineyard they provided a place for me to actually be able to sit down and speak to Haley and Dave for a little while to get all the incredible details of this upcoming food and wine festival

[00:09:03] so that you can be ready to get your badges and experience this in October. So without further ado let's go to that interview and hear what they have planned. Howdy Vine Trippers welcome to this bonus episode of Texas Under Vine and today I'm here

[00:09:23] with Dave and Haley with the Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival so we're going to talk to them a little bit and learn a little bit about this incredible event that's going to be taking place in October so hopefully you'll enjoy this time with them. So first off either

[00:09:37] or you can go it's up to you but tell me a little bit about yourself what got you involved in the Food and Wine Festival? I'll kick us off. I moved here with my family from Austin about

[00:09:49] two years ago. We've always left Fredericksburg and had dreamt about moving out here forever but never really had a reason to until COVID hit my husband and I started our own marketing firm just out of our house catering to food, bed and hospitality industries doing a lot of

[00:10:05] their organic and paid social direct to consumer stuff and a lot of our clients ended up being in the Hill Country because this area really really blew up during that time so we found

[00:10:16] ourselves driving back and forth a ton finally able to move here and I have a you know with the marketing background and digital marketing prior to COVID also had did a lot of in-person events and activations in Austin so I'd always been really excited about all the festivals

[00:10:34] happening in Hill Country. If you've it's very small town in Fredericksburg in the sense that there is a festival of some kind literally every single weekend here and I love Food and Wine Festivals

[00:10:47] I've been to Charleston, Austin, Fort Worth, some day I'll go to Aspen, been to a couple in Napa so I thought that there was a big opportunity here to really elevate the event scene when it came

[00:10:59] to Food and Wine here so about earlier this year we got a I got approached by the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce as an agency to see if we should revamp it so that's kind of how I got

[00:11:11] involved in this world and then Dave was on the steering committee. Yeah so I got to know Jim the new CEO of the chamber, we shared kind of similar background in hotel and restaurant management so we kind of clicked instantly and originally I was talking to the

[00:11:24] chamber about supporting the Texas Wine Auction that's another event that we throw that's amazing and it kind of turned into an invite onto the steering committee and it's been a blast to work with that whole team Haley you know specifically with throwing an event and taking something

[00:11:37] that's happened in Fredericksburg for a long time and completely revamping it in a way that I think is going to really kind of blow people's socks off and then integrating some of that

[00:11:46] wine side that kind of I bring to the table and with the partnership through auction to do something that I think adds kind of a unique spin to the Food and Wine Festival, the charity aspect

[00:11:54] but we're really excited I think it's you know the preview week that's coming here soon is going to be incredibly successful and I think we're really going to kind of set the standard for what a Food and Wine Festival looks like in Fredericksburg and hopefully eventually Hill Country

[00:12:07] and eventually Texas. Yeah so the festival has been going on for roughly just over 30 years. Okay that was going to be my next question. Okay oh perfect. So you led right into it.

[00:12:16] Okay good well so it's been around for a long time which is really cool but Fredericksburg is growing up really really fast and you know like I mentioned with that the festival kind of has to

[00:12:27] keep up too. So this is a really cool year where we're going to see a total rebrand, total revamp and like Dave mentioned it's it's going to be unlike anything this area has ever experienced

[00:12:39] which is really exciting and we have a strong steering committee behind us so it's produced by the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce. I'm on the committee kind of planning doing the logistics and partnerships and marketing and then there's Dave we have a representative from Great Creek,

[00:12:59] HB, the city yeah yeah it's really great people. It's a really good group that all I think want to do the best thing for town right and want to throw an event that they're all really

[00:13:10] proud of and have been incredibly supportive and I think with you know their time obviously but purchasing tickets and marketing and donating wine and yeah it's been it's been really cool to

[00:13:19] kind of be surrounded by that group. I think Jim did a really good job kind of handpicking that that group to seven or eight people that really want to do something special and are willing

[00:13:27] to put their time and effort into it to make it happen. Well tell us about the upcoming Food and Wine Festival so what are some of the key highlights and things that people can expect

[00:13:36] at the festival? Oh my gosh okay well that's time like how much time do we have? There's a lot we're back in a lot and to like to do it. I know I'm like okay walk in to the right there's gonna be

[00:13:48] some porta-potties just kidding well there'll be key porta-potties more on that later. Every aspect will be beautiful so part of my goal is how do I make this the most Instagrammable event in the Texas Hill Country you know ideally we have everyone with their

[00:14:03] phones out taking pictures and sharing and creating some really great organic conversation that drives tourism and supports the area as a whole and of course helps the festival grow. So we'll have a VIP area that's sponsored by Augusta Vinn and if you haven't been

[00:14:22] out there yet you have to go you feel like you're in Italy and then to the left when you walk in we'll have a culinary demo stage where we have that'll be an add-on experience so we'll

[00:14:35] actually have tables in front of the stage where people can will be able to sit and interact with the food whoever's teaching on stage so they'll be able to eat and taste alongside you know the

[00:14:46] the culinary experience happening in front of them and we have some pretty great chef lineups that I won't announce just yet okay you have to sign it for our newsletter to get that information we'll release them soon and then we have of course our grand tasting pavilion

[00:15:03] and that's in partnership with Texas Wine Auction so in there you can expect roughly 30 to 50 wineries tasting doing it pours and when you arrive to the festival everybody will get a wine glass so

[00:15:15] you'll have your wine glass to get pours in there we'll also have cheese pairings and little nibbles kind of throughout to make sure we're all staying classily tipsy and then Signore is actually popping up right by that space with their they're taking out their Joanna's Market

[00:15:33] and if you haven't been out there they have a beautiful sundry shop called Joanna's Market they'll create a little pop-up sundry shop as well on site at the festival we'll have a little yard game area and then continuing on through the festival a beautiful

[00:15:46] beer garden a craft beverage dim and stage so we'll have some mixology involved and then a blending competition with becker calling that blended like becker which I think is really cute

[00:15:58] and we have a teaser event during preview week at becker as well to kind of showcase what that's going to be like at the festival we'll be doing smash burgers on bread expert cast irons

[00:16:09] with acre barbecue hill and vine will be out there with dust barbusts which is there really cute vw van either doing cocktails or some kind of wonderful thing hill and vine just does it really

[00:16:24] well and then we'll have a distillery area revel kitchen and catering is going to pop up and be doing kind of an interactive argentinian grill thing that's going to be delicious and then we'll have about 25 culinary pop-ups as well so that's kind of something that had

[00:16:42] been missing in the past was when you think fast food festivals in fredexburg you think but long corn dogs turkey legs final cakes which is they're delicious but for a food and wine festival we really really went to hone in on culinary innovation elevated so elevated

[00:17:00] so with the purchase of a badge not only are you getting to taste all the wines many cocktails with the distilleries beer in the beer in the beer garden that's what I forgot I think

[00:17:10] but you'll also get pretty hefty bites from all these really nice culinary chefs and restaurants in the texas whole country and this is sparkling garden oh my gosh i'm just gonna be good it's

[00:17:22] gonna be nuts yes that's what is it about heat sparkling what what isn't that about heat so there we have this really beautiful sparkling garden so that is a heath space so they'll

[00:17:37] be tasting out all of their sparklings in that space I think very girly there's a lot of floral just like a beautiful if Martha Stewart's garden and gun you know southern living where to have

[00:17:50] this outdoor space with heath that's you know just put a visual gotcha that's what you can experience from there yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be amazing and the for texas wine auction

[00:18:00] those 30 to 50 wineries you're actually going to be able to come in and bid to buy a case of that wine that you taste okay so these are all local winery yeah so it's okay the vast majority of

[00:18:08] them will be within the texas hill country okay all of them are chamber members which is I think an amazing way that they come in and support the chamber and support town and that they in turn

[00:18:16] get support from them but it's gonna be a really cool way to not just come and taste wine but have an opportunity to bid on something and actually go to the winery later have it shipped

[00:18:24] to your house and support a really good cost so it's it's kind of a really neat you know way to take a wine tasting up a notch again a lot of the wineries are going to do something

[00:18:31] special that's one off blends that they're only making those five cases of so it's going to be a really really kind of cool wine driven event but again it's just it's one phenomenal that's

[00:18:41] going to be a blast two like the preview week events I think are a good example of some of the unique things that we've created and really paylies created and is in charge of executing

[00:18:49] which I don't want that job no pressure yeah there's a lot going on but it shows that kind of we do want to have something that's inventive and unique and really does take it

[00:18:58] up but not just one notch but 10 or 12 notches but we're also doing really cool things to support the locals and to give them discounts on tickets and some ways to make sure that they still feel

[00:19:07] like this is they can be proud of this it's not just for tourists it's for tourists and locals alike and people that like wine from all over the world but the physical locations of the

[00:19:17] wineries will all be within the Texas cell country and I think that's something that makes the festival unique you'll see other food and wine related events throughout Texas that do allow Napa wineries which I love a Napa winery but this is you know Texas and so we're

[00:19:33] really trying hard to stay true to local Texas so as Dave mentioned you have to be a member of the chamber to participate and every you know where we're all within the it's at the Hill Country AVA

[00:19:45] so that's kind of where we're recruiting from not keeping in mind local and how are we supporting to build up this community and the whole thing is for charity so like it's a lot of fun

[00:19:57] but it's all for good so the Food and Wine Festival is a done 501c3 non-profit this is the first year that it will have it's in 501c3 right now our goal is put on a good event become

[00:20:09] a sustainable nonprofit next year we will hopefully have the ability to donate a good portion of profits from the festival to a variety of different local organizations that that help local food and wine in addition to Texas wine options so that's kind of nice knowing

[00:20:29] you know you're partying having fun supporting local but also giving back well you mentioned a couple of other wine festivals that are around what really sets apart the Fredericksburg Food and Wine Festival it makes it unique from some of those other

[00:20:43] places that they could go I think for sure the local aspects only pulling from local and that goes even like with sponsorships at this point all of our larger sponsors and partners are all local organizations and companies and that's what I think is really unique a really

[00:20:59] really cool thing about being in a small town and you know in the surrounding small towns is everybody is so local minded and really it's important for them to support local which

[00:21:12] I don't think you really get in a lot of the bigger cities and I want to keep that in mind as we grow this thing as well to the whole point is to support local and you mentioned that small

[00:21:22] town feel earlier so you kind of keep that sense about it yeah yeah I think getting letting people see what market plots can look like really dialed up is going to be really impressive and

[00:21:33] and unique I mean I think right everybody knows what it looks like for Oktoberfest I mean there's a lot going on and there's gallons of beer everywhere this is definitely going to be a not necessarily a pretentious version but a fancier version that shows you right like this

[00:21:44] is kind of when you get all dolled up this is what this amazing historic you know very local driven place can be which I think it's going to be really cool and I think a lot of locals are

[00:21:53] going to support it one because it goes for great causes obviously but two it's they get it kind of come out and enjoy something that's totally different that they they could experience

[00:22:01] in an Aspen or a Pebble Beach or a Fort Worth yeah but they're doing it in their own backyard which I think is is really really cool and it is a total Oktober's packed with stuff and

[00:22:10] in Fredericksburg like Oktoberfest but it's a food and wine making will attract a totally different demographic in a good way and I love a good Oktoberfest too and I will be there in my

[00:22:21] outfit with all my cups of beer that's my leader Hosen my leader Hosen I'll dress them as little kids we'll get our face painted it'll be great and that's a really good time but this will

[00:22:32] be I mean you can come in town and go to that and do that and then I think it's like two weeks after you can dress up again in your Instagramable worthy outfit and have an equally

[00:22:44] as amazing time but a whole different experience um so yeah you'll be you'll be kind of hitting a very different market um offering something very unique and different than what you'd see it

[00:22:57] really any other festival at Marklots and I think it will wow people for people to see like oh whoa the I don't know the park could look like this so how long in a vase does the

[00:23:06] planning process take for something like this and what are some of your biggest challenges you faced um that's a good question usually I mean I'm just like an obsessive planner coming from the event world so I'm already thinking 2025 really um but the chamber just inherited the event from

[00:23:22] the city in February I believe so um and so we didn't get started till about mid-mart on things which we're running pretty fast so um it's really important to us this year to execute really really well of course because this is the first year in its new iteration

[00:23:40] so um that's why it's really only one day on Saturday um so we want to go small but do it very well and and thoughtfully um doesn't mean that there's not a lot of planning

[00:23:52] it's like all I really think about besides run my small humans at home um so I mean this as for as many details as there are and it's a lot and trying to stay true to being very

[00:24:04] intentional with our partnerships and making sure we're delivering a good experience to all of the people who are putting money and time into this not knowing really if it's gonna work which it is um so making sure we're delivering really well on everything we said we would

[00:24:20] yeah and you look at like the chefs that are gonna be involved and we have tons and tons of local chefs and you know that this is a Saturday in October they're gonna have a busy restaurant

[00:24:27] full ready to go so they're really you know not necessarily taking a chance because I think this is obviously it's going to be a home run but really wanting to support it and wanting to

[00:24:35] put their best foot forward and it gives them an opportunity to go play around and do something that may be different than what they normally do or highlight something that

[00:24:42] they do so well and kind of take it on the road um so it's kind of a it's a cool opportunity to get in front of I mean you know we're talking three to five thousand people um so this isn't a

[00:24:50] small event it's going to be a big event but I think Market Plots is the perfect spot for it and given you know 25 chefs and 30 40 50 wineries and Distillers and Brews I mean it's it really is

[00:25:00] kind of adult Disneyland um refer a weekend in front yeah that's true and no kids allowed yeah at this part but we're doing you're doing kids stuff yeah I was gonna say that's a good

[00:25:07] point up until this point we've only talked about the like five hour yeah the main thing takes the main event but things actually kick off the night before okay on Friday night we're doing

[00:25:18] a 160 person seated dinner in the middle of the street um so Austin Street is a pretty prominent street in Fredericksburg that's um we're taking over the part between Market Plots and Methany Church

[00:25:31] so right behind where all the action will happen the next day so 160 person one long table street light we'll have five different chefs five courses at the Friday night dinner first course will be with heat sparkling as well as a cocktail by Dietz Distillery

[00:25:47] that will be paired with past bites by Hill and Vine chef Mike Hall who's a wonderful person I love him and super talented super talented I just had a big plate of his nachos the other day great and if you haven't been there recently

[00:26:00] they're doing um bread pudding in a cast iron skillet but with croissants oh interesting it's unbelievable no it's gotta be 10 000 calories but it's worth it's so good best calories delivery you're gonna go big go big um so that's a yeah the first course um

[00:26:20] second course will be a salad done by Otto's German bistro which is a pretty well-known restaurant in Fredericksburg they've been around for a really long time um side street hospitality um paired with do we know it'll be one of the brands from William Criss so the

[00:26:33] Cris were lighter white white we're still finalizing yeah it'll find it's gonna be delicious and then um Hill Country herb garden chef Jeff is doing a lovely red fish um paired with

[00:26:47] Michael Ross Michael Ross I think they're doing a rosé yeah sorry rosé um and then rebel kitchen and catering um a delicious meat um paired with a guesstaben um a red of course and then

[00:27:00] final dish will be by a dessert by Kytle Hughes um with Kytle pharmacy out of the Albert Hotel which is a new hotel opening up as part of the new Waterloo group um new Waterloo group um and that'll

[00:27:11] be paired with the cocktail by Garrison Brothers okay gotta end with some bourbon obviously um so that's on Friday night and then things kick off in the morning the next day um with Vino Vignosa

[00:27:24] so for our more active festival goers they'll be doing um Downward Dog and all sorts of other poses while drinking wine um and you'll get uh brunch nibbles by uh high-tie which is kind of cool

[00:27:38] you don't really get a lot of Thai food out here so their stuff is so good um so a Thai themed brunch with yoga um and wine and then um we'll also have an off-site event happening at

[00:27:49] Fisher and Weezer they're doing a brunch at Das P. Chaus um and if you haven't been out there you feel like you're in a different country as well it's have you been out there too?

[00:27:59] It is so pretty I don't know what kind of treat but the in the story behind it is crazy like generations ago their grandfather brought all these trees over from I think Germany and I

[00:28:09] could be getting this wrong but it's something like this and planted them out here so the trees are just like you feel you don't you don't feel like you're in Texas

[00:28:17] and they have B&Bs I think on site and there's like a little lake out there I mean it's really pretty so brunch will be out there and then we um have a free family friendly event open to the

[00:28:28] community and again like like Dave mentioned we're trying to make sure we um include as many locals as possible and Dave and I both have three kids each like this is something that I think

[00:28:40] we would like to go to and bring our kids to and then leave them home for the rest of the day um but Oro Bianco is partnering with us on this they have a couple locations throughout the

[00:28:50] hill country they're bringing out their baby water buffalo I shouldn't say baby they might be teenagers they don't know yet it's not small it's not small but it's not like African water buffalo people think that that's like they're huge beasts they're not they're like sweet little cows

[00:29:05] but they're buffalo and they actually make all of their products with that water buffalo milk so as we grow as an organization and festival we really want to start tying in more agriculture

[00:29:15] components so this is kind of a nice touch onto the agriculture side of things um this first year so they'll have gelato the water buffalo with it people can pet and feed um we'll have shore shot

[00:29:27] which is a new local coffee um company that'll be out there and some live music and that's again free to the community okay um and then the main event kicks off and there will be

[00:29:39] some kind of cool after party I just haven't sorted through those details yet but I kind of wanted to just be like word of mouth vimed so we'll see there won't be any booze with that either

[00:29:50] yeah yeah no no that's wrong that's wrong the chefs and winemakers will be so it'll be a it'll be a park all right all right well you talked a little bit about um a few of the the different

[00:30:00] vendors and things like that how do you go about choosing the the food vendors the wine vendors I know you talked they needed to be part of the chamber but but there's a lot of wineries

[00:30:09] out here there's a lot of great chefs how do you how do you go through that process of choosing them on the wine side it's been really cool I think well we've had we've been doing Texas wine auction

[00:30:17] for three years now so we've had 40 or so wineries that have been supporting us we've raised over $750,000 in three years and that all goes back to where obviously we got to pay for our event costs but it's really going back to hospitality and vineyard worker mental health

[00:30:31] and health care as well as furthering kind of the Texas wine industry we're working with Texas A&M on research projects for sustainable agriculture and farming and a whole host of other things that

[00:30:41] we're planning so it's been really cool to kind of be like hey we're throwing this new event that's something totally different than what we've been doing and wineries have just been so excited it's been really easy they've had lots of questions but I think it's been they've

[00:30:53] been really excited to be okay yeah we want to do that part what else can we do and how can we get do something unique so it's been kind of overwhelming I think the that outreach that's come

[00:31:02] into us which has been great and I think a really good sign that this is going to be successful year one but also continue to grow from there yeah it's been interesting as we've like gotten further

[00:31:10] into this and gotten the word out there more Dave and I are both getting calls from wineries and other places that are like we you need to what we can't miss out oh my gosh what's

[00:31:20] going on which is fun we want to be on the bandwagon so that's good that's the reaction that we want um on the culinary side of things um it's really just me I just made a list of all the

[00:31:34] food places and local chefs and everything around the hill country and just started calling them but once they want I think once they understand the events and it really is their opportunity

[00:31:45] to showcase what they do in front of a big group of people that are all their target market right it's it's all people love food and wine so that's really who we're going after

[00:31:53] is that market and you know if you come and have the best bite you've ever had at autos that night before like you're going to come back and go to the restaurant

[00:32:00] he said same thing with hell and vine and I mean those partners are so amazing and they're incredibly giving like they're it's not a what do we get out of this it's like we're in

[00:32:08] tell me what I need to do and and they come up with even better ideas and really we get the right group of people together and it just keeps getting better and better

[00:32:15] yeah crazier and crazier but in a really good way that I think throws a great event that's going to be really unique yeah everyone is so community minded here and that's it yeah

[00:32:24] everybody who's involved is not is genuinely not like what am I going to get out of this they're just like how do we support this new thing that you guys are doing and how do

[00:32:32] we make sure that it's done really really well we want to be a part of it so that that's been really cool um and we have a great working committee too so I mean that's like aside from

[00:32:42] our steering committee we have a working committee that is you know a group of 15 or so people that are really really hands-on and going to be instrumental in making sure we pull this off

[00:32:53] really well so it's been really cool to see everybody step up and purely for like no no they're not asking for anything in return just want to help when I know earlier you gave us a little

[00:33:06] bit of a kind of theater of the mind walkthrough of what the show might look like but are there going to be like live culinary cooking demonstrations and things like that or yeah someone needs to

[00:33:16] expect um so on the for culinary demos we'll start off with Lear Roy's Tex-Mex barbecue we'll be doing homemade butter tortillas seeing um so everybody in the audience I think we have roughly 30 seats so

[00:33:29] again there'll be like actual tables with setups and then each each seat will have the ingredients to make a butter tortilla now cooking those butter tortillas is not going to actually

[00:33:39] happen like at in that spot so he will have pre-prepped a lot but people will still be able to get their hands dirty they'll also get little these wooden bowls that you need to make tortillas

[00:33:50] and get to keep that as a little goody a little token and that'll be paired with one of our winery partners as well so that's a whole experience and then we'll have Antonelli's cheese out of Austin

[00:34:02] who is all over the hill country as well and very philanthropic very community focused they'll be doing a wine and cheese pairing and if you haven't done one of those you totally should

[00:34:13] you you get like this beautiful little plate of cheese and you don't think it's going to be enough but it's perfect um and then after that we'll have Mesquite at the warehouse which is a brand

[00:34:24] new upscale barbecue place opening up in the old Warner warehouse building right next to Carol Hicks Bolton's antiques um it's a small family and um they're they're not even open yet but

[00:34:36] by the time this comes out I think they might be so that's exciting um and they're doing something elevated barbecue very meat heavy and then we'll have um Jesse Griffiths with Dai Duay out of Austin

[00:34:51] he is a wonderful educator in the culinary world um and I heard the other day somebody called him the fire guy I I don't know how true this is but apparently he does everything just over open flame

[00:35:03] really so yeah he could basically just show up and cook you the best meal you've ever had yeah but almost no tools like yes it's pretty crazy yeah so I'm really excited about him

[00:35:13] I'm excited about all of them but and then we're working on a couple more if I can figure out a way to squeeze the men like Dave mentioned we're getting we get a little bit too excited and

[00:35:22] try to pile it all on at once um so there might be more but uh well I think we'll end up having several culinary um stages in 2025 um and then on the beverage stage we will have a hill country

[00:35:38] herb garden they have a uh herbalist on stuff which is cool so she's gonna do healthy I can't technically just legally I can't say healthy cocktails or driven cocktails herb driven cocktails they taste good a little bit yeah exactly healthy's in the eye of the

[00:35:57] you reduce the hangover I don't know they just you feel good you're like drinking a green juice with vodka basically it's great um so that that'll be really nice and then um we'll have a blended

[00:36:08] like becker competition and this is I feel like into a blending competition you probably have no there have you they're so fun so y'all know how that is so the becker will divide people up

[00:36:18] into teams people will get to blend their own wines and they'll even get to make their own wine label and then be judged and there'll be a prize and all the things um and then we have uh Albert

[00:36:29] Hotel um like I mentioned before uh from new Waterloo they will be doing cocktails from all their new locations or all their new concepts in Fredericksburg so we'll have something from Kytle that's inspired by Kytle Pharmacy something inspired by the saloon by Albert and then by

[00:36:45] Junebugs which is their new barbecue concept opening up probably in 2025 um and that uh I'm really excited about that barbecue spot um and then to end the cocktail or the craft beverage demos is Chase's Place cocktail bar that's been around for a long time in Fredericksburg

[00:37:05] I'm trying to pitch them on having a big ice luge of some kind so people can stick their head under and or yeah I don't know if again legally tweaked like that but by the end of the night

[00:37:16] finale luscious TABC just with the dust and matter let's just do it so so those are all the demos going on um and then there are more so like I said there's gonna be a ton of other booths for

[00:37:27] culinary so you'll have like your your tables that are going to be handing out samples but then aside from the demo stages there's Rebel Kitchen and Catering is going to have like a there are little bistro area essentially all cooking over open flame um and then Fredericksburg

[00:37:43] Cast Iron is partnering with Acre Barbecue to do smash burgers there's a lot of interactive elements happening um that are all included in your just GA badge so I think people will get a ton of ton of

[00:37:54] value um out of their experience so we kind of hit on some of the food stuff let's think about the wine for a second because I find personally just as the average consumer wine

[00:38:06] of food pairing can be challenging to a lot of people it can be hard to figure out sometimes for people that are coming that like wine they like food but they don't really know how to put

[00:38:16] that stuff together is there going to be kind of any educational opportunities or things ways for people to learn about pairing food and wine I think the fun part of this is you're

[00:38:25] going to get so many opportunities to taste wine with different food that it's almost you know again we made something we could probably develop that would be really cool so good idea yeah

[00:38:34] I was gonna write that down but I think we're at the feet if you have an opportunity to taste copyright Texas underbind yeah we can figure that out uh but if you know having 50 wineries and

[00:38:45] then a food from 25 different chefs and all these unique opportunities I think it's really going to be cool to see people go through a kind of taste a couple wines and then go out and

[00:38:52] get something to eat and go back and you know we're gonna you're gonna walk through market plots 20 times during your during your time at the festival um I get your smarts out but it's gonna be

[00:39:02] there's it's kind of that like you know we're gonna assault your senses with everything you could imagine from smells to visually what it looks like what it tastes like and it's

[00:39:09] going to be just kind of crazy and fun right I'm excited and we will have some food in the wine area um halter ranch for example um recently opened up here and they'll have a

[00:39:19] they have a really delicious restaurant on site so they'll in their their food their wine area they'll have their food area right by there too um and I would imagine that they're gonna be intentional about what they're serving together um we're looking into different

[00:39:34] cheese partners and things like that um in the beer garden um we have a pretzel necklaces to help cleanse pallets in between tasting beers so we're trying to say very true

[00:39:45] to actual tasting um but yeah we'll see how it goes this year and I think that is a cool piece of programming for 2025 is to maybe have some more intentional education involved um and that's kind of what we're planning in the future you know this year's relatively small

[00:40:02] but 2025 this will be a three-day event happening at Mark Plats so there'll be a lot more time to be able to dedicate to um education and things like more smaller more intimate experiences then we'll have over 50 off-site experiences happening throughout the hill country similar

[00:40:21] to what we're doing for preview week um but all during the festival so who would you say is kind of the target audience you're trying to reach with the food and wine festival what's the demographic you're really trying to reach here

[00:40:34] um definitely people who care about wine um I think that's one of the differences too with this yes it's a party but it's not just a party to go and get drunk at like people who are

[00:40:44] going to want to purchase a badge to this event are going to actually care about what they're drinking where it comes from similar to you they're going to want to really taste

[00:40:54] the experience in their mouth you know what I mean not just toss a little one else pour a wine back they'll want to taste it and um and learn about it same with the food aspect

[00:41:04] so people who care about wine and food and really value a good experience you know age wise it's pretty big I mean 30s to 60s I'd say men and women but it's an opportunity to meet those winemakers and the owners of the chefs and

[00:41:21] I think that's a kind of a cool thing right you go to a restaurant and you know you see the chef you know working like crazy back there but they don't necessarily have time to sit down and

[00:41:28] talk to them and I think right this is going to be high volume as far as we're going to be pumping out lots of food to get people fed but it's also an opportunity to sit there and actually

[00:41:35] interact with those people and understand talk to the winemaker about why this blend is special why that you know the fresh cast iron is great for smash burgers I guess it's a cool way to

[00:41:44] kind of go a little bit deeper than you would normally get in a traditional kind of setting and I think the you know the the hill country area is especially the wine market 290 here is a hugely prominent and upcoming wine corridor it was listed you know I've seen

[00:42:01] stats from a lot of different things but Viper magazine just within the last year came out with their top 10 places in the world that you need to go to travel for wine tourism

[00:42:10] and on the other list this is world there were only two locations in the United States and the hill country was one of those and so having a food and wine festival that can promote

[00:42:20] those amazing Texas wines the amazing producers that we have here and those chefs and everything is hugely beneficial for elevating what we have here and the what we know because we're here

[00:42:32] amongst it but to really spread that out to the world as well and put a face on that yeah I think it's important yeah I think you're gonna see right you're gonna see Austin and

[00:42:39] San Antonio right folks come out and they're here often but you're gonna see Houston I think you'll see Dallas I think you'll see a lot of people who really do come out kind of make it a

[00:42:46] weekend and eventually I think it becomes a week long of some of the coolest most unique wine and food driven events in the country so it really is something I think people are gonna want to be

[00:42:54] a part of year one so in five years they could be like oh I remember the first year when they did the Austin Street dinner and it was you know 160 people which we're gonna sell out in like

[00:43:01] two seconds it's gonna be crazy uh brad that we shut down a street for I mean my goals we shut down a block in three or four years so my goal is we shut off main street which would

[00:43:10] be so cool just like the Christmas parade but we just shut it down for a couple hours crank out a five course dinner it'll be awesome so good that'll happen so what kind of economic impact do you think this this festival can really have on the

[00:43:24] local community here are you talked a little bit about the um charity the stuff that work that you're gonna be doing the 501c3 and and so what do you see as the hopefully economic impact

[00:43:34] on the area the way I see it that this is way more than just a one day like party or festival right if if freedom wine is a 501c3 organization to me that means programming year round so for sure I think

[00:43:48] preview week will always be a thing um the festival will always be a thing but I see the this as an organization developing programs similar to a traditional nonprofit where um it's always you know centered around entertaining and driving tourism and giving back to the community um but

[00:44:06] also you know how do we um just engage wineries culinary um the culinary scene etc in a way that helps um keep them always innovating and thinking outside the box which again just drives people

[00:44:21] traveling here I want to keep the conversation going year round and that's another thing that sets us apart in like this festival when you're part of it it's not just hey we're gonna put up a

[00:44:31] pull-up banner and you'll have a couple pictures and that's it from our marketing perspective this conversation will be year round it will live on instagram it will live on facebook will be emailing people year round on our website so just like the organic conversation that will be happening

[00:44:48] online around this festival even just this first year I think will help boost tourism for Fredericksburg year round and it really models the the kind of core messaging of the chamber right

[00:44:59] and of the city it's we we want to be hospitable we want to bring business here we want to put people instead of staying for one night staying two nights staying three nights if you have a new

[00:45:07] hotel it's opening or an airbnb right we want to help you fill those beds um and hopefully fill them at a higher price point um then you would get on average right because I think

[00:45:16] having something that's I think elevated in style and execution and quality allows us to again go after a not necessarily a different demographic but people that don't mind coming in and going around and spending money at the shops downtown and coming back and visiting those wineries

[00:45:31] and restaurants that they enjoyed so much on their kind of sneak peek um so it gives us an opportunity to I think do what's right for the town but do it in a way that's done really well

[00:45:39] and that is supportive of the of the locals and the local businesses I think that's where the partnership with the chamber was really really smart um because it allows us to

[00:45:49] go out to those chamber members and provide them value as much as we possibly can um and again I think that just grows exponentially from here on out even like down to the vendors we use like

[00:45:58] stuff that you might not see behind the scenes janitorial rentals all that stuff we're using chamber members so we're always supporting trying to be as local minded locally minded as possible in every aspect of this festival um which I think is really cool

[00:46:13] and then of course on our website and on social we'll have an accommodations page so as a chamber member if you have airbnb's if you're a hotel um if you have your tiny homes all

[00:46:25] the things available for people to come and rent will list you on our recommended accommodations page and you'll have a profile and direct link to your website um same with transportation services tour buses um I probably don't have capacity to do this this year but eventually

[00:46:41] I want to have guides curated guides to fredexburg so clean your weekend during the festival clean your week during the festival and here's all the things you can do depending on your interests

[00:46:52] um if you're a you only drink red wine here are the wineries that you should hit by your here if you're only rosé if you're a sweet wine person you know all the things so we'll

[00:47:02] eventually I think we'll be able to provide a lot of value that way yeah so it goes beyond just the festival time itself yeah uh how would you how do you measure success how do you how will

[00:47:14] you feel like this festival is a success sell it out I'm gonna say break even no I think getting I think getting that kind of critical mass is going to be one of the one of the ways that we

[00:47:26] gauge success yeah is if I think there's a lot of the you know culinary stage if you expect three to five thousand people and you only have CD for 30 we know we're going to sell

[00:47:33] those out there those tickets are going to go really fast street dinner something so unique and so kind of cool right it's going to go really fast so I think you know VIP badges and then

[00:47:42] hoping that the the you know target market the consumers really kind of vibe with what we've created and what we're offering I think will be the easiest to gauge in ticket sales but also

[00:47:52] I think it's right did we take care of the chefs did we take care of the wineries did they have fun did they get value did they have a good time because there's plenty of options to go

[00:48:00] you know donate to things there's a never-ending option um but I think what we've seen so far the feedback we've gotten has been so kind of crazy overwhelmingly positive that we're exciting I

[00:48:12] think that's why Haley is taking on so much to make it as big and awesome as possible year one as you can possibly yeah to possibly pull off um and why I think all the you know the steering

[00:48:22] committee and the working committee are so committed to donating their time and making sure that you know we're not just you know oh you should do this and then we run away it's

[00:48:29] like well we should do this and I'll be there we'll do it together and I think that's that's for success especially year one it it gains I think internally a lot of

[00:48:38] confidence that we're a group of people that don't just say we're going to do something we do it and I think that was really smart by Haley and Jim to kind of handpick the right people

[00:48:47] because we've got some some people that are very smart and very dedicated to making Frederickburg the best it possibly can be excellent are there any kind of chefs or um wineries or things that you're just personally really excited that they're a part

[00:49:03] of it that you want to share I mean genuinely like all of our the the wineries that are doing larger activations I'm all really excited about um I guess to been their VIP lounge is going to be

[00:49:15] really really beautiful not to mention air conditioned restrooms which is always a bonus yeah um but I but you know they'll have they'll be giving they'll be able to pour larger pours in there of their state wine they they put they create such a beautiful experience

[00:49:31] I'm excited about what that's going to look like um same with Heath's um Signor is one of my personal favorites I just think it's one of the most beautiful wineries in the hill country so I'm really excited about that um and some of the smaller up-and-coming wineries because

[00:49:47] I can get such a cool opportunity for them to you know to play with the bigger guys um and get some good exposure halter ranch I'm really excited about because they're newbies

[00:49:57] um and then I'm a huge foodie so I literally am excited about all the food and a lot of the chefs that are doing the main festival are also doing preview week events and yeah they

[00:50:07] got are doing things to kind of you gotta talk about the case off and some of the things that all over to be passed when we had this goes out the case of you're coming to all the

[00:50:14] events aren't you but it's but it's really cool because it right like you know Helen Vine I'm such a huge fan of and they do such a good job day in and day out but you get it you know talk to

[00:50:23] Mike and you know and it's like Mike what if we did this and he's like oh that's a great idea let me figure it out like and it's just we get real nerdy about stuff and I me personally like it's

[00:50:30] fun to get I get nerdy on wine all the time so it's really fun with my background is more food and beverage and restaurants and all kinds of stuff so it's really fun to be like that

[00:50:38] chef chef front of house back house yeah it's really cool and I don't want to go do that seven days a week 15 hours a day ever again but having a little taste of it for me is super fun

[00:50:48] and I'm I would say I'm really excited about that that Austin Street dinner is going to be I think something the town's never seen yeah and I think the chefs are all really pushing to do

[00:50:57] something that is better and I think they're putting kind of their heart and soul into it so it's gonna be really cool to see them kind of you know there's a little bit of competition

[00:51:03] there of like I'm gonna one up you and you're gonna one up me and and again ultimately everybody that's sitting at a table eating is the one that wins yeah yeah it is cool to

[00:51:12] see how excited all the chefs are because they're usually like back of house right you don't really get to talk to them a lot of them are really shy and that's why they're

[00:51:20] they've chosen not a profession but they once you get you know they work with food not people they're so excited though like again I can't say enough good things about my call

[00:51:30] with hill and vine he's just a gem um so I mean max with rebel too max is putting so max and marisa they own rebel kitchen and catering a really well-known catering company

[00:51:42] out in the hill country and they're about to open coming soon I don't know they'll be they'll be fine with this um they're a restaurant three days a week called el quinoe um and that's going to

[00:51:54] be something that people haven't ever seen before the way they're styling that um more to come on that but that'll be really exciting but um they have a lot going on all the time and

[00:52:05] they're pouring their heart and soul into this because they really really believe in what this could do for Fredericksburg so a lot of really passionate behind the scenes people I mean that's what the

[00:52:14] the best part about all of this the people and then it makes me want to eat their food yeah and a little drive this type of event helps put Fredericksburg kind of on the map as a

[00:52:23] culinary destination so it will only attract more talented people or people that want to you know we've got a culinary institute of america and san Antonio instead of everybody going from there to austin or dallas, shredder, houston they're going to start coming up this way and

[00:52:35] kind of see that you know this what we're doing you know not that it has to be fancy or expensive but it's done really really well and I think right when you talk about corn dogs it's like

[00:52:44] you can make a mediocre corn dog you can make the best corn dog somebody's ever had I love corn dogs yeah well for me too and I think that's one of the cool things about

[00:52:51] this type of event is it allows these kind of up-and-coming chefs and winemakers to share what they do on a scale that they wouldn't normally get and to get out of right this October so we'll just be finishing up harvest hopefully if it's not the world's

[00:53:04] longest harvest like it was last year but these winemakers can come out and actually talk to people and hang out with people and understand what people like about their wines or don't like about

[00:53:11] their wines and I think that's a something they don't do as much of as they'd like and this is a great excuse to do something really fun and showcase what they put their heart and soul into

[00:53:20] and it might get them in front of an audience that they typically aren't in front of not necessary people are coming to the wineries but to a different audience of people there

[00:53:27] and get exposure there. So what are some of your top tips for attendees to get the most out of this festival? That's a good question. Get your tickets early I'll say that. Tickets are I genuinely think

[00:53:38] tickets are going to go fast so for especially for some of the culinary uh demo stages and stuff like that VIP tickets make sure you jump online and order them as soon as humanly possible

[00:53:48] because we're putting a cap on a lot because again we want to keep it small intentional do it really well so I think VIP will go quick because there aren't a ton dinner the Friday night

[00:53:59] street dinner will go immediately demo stages there aren't a ton of spots for those so those will go quick the brunch will go I mean all the all the small events will go quick. So get on it quick.

[00:54:11] Skip skip breakfast yeah we'll go to brunch yeah but yeah I would say come back Thursday. Yeah no it's I think I think people are gonna have a really good time and I would say you know weather permitting it's it's hopefully gonna be beautiful and we'll have all

[00:54:25] kinds of covered areas and you know it's really something that I think you know come expecting a really good time stay overnight don't try and drive home to us after this it's not a good choice

[00:54:35] yeah I would say book a room yeah like book your room the same time you buy your ticket um because while there are a lot of places to save they will be filling up fast and make it

[00:54:45] make it a weekend trip come say Friday Saturday Sunday there's obviously there's a million things to do there's all these wineries are open they're all gonna be excited if you go visit them on Friday

[00:54:53] and then come to the like it's just gonna make them happy yeah um book you know book dinner with one of the culinary partners um fried yeah go have some fun so it's it's gonna be really

[00:55:03] really fun and I think educational and unique and I'm really excited to kind of share that with people and and I think we're gonna get an overwhelmingly positive response. I'd say um for girls bring one of those cross body bags or a fanny pack situation because

[00:55:16] you want both hands for wine and food there you go um I'm just thinking about what I would need are you all right like when I went to Charleston wine and food I didn't bring anything and that's

[00:55:26] the beauty of this type of festival too is you buy everything ahead of time so you don't have to you're not pulling out your wallet um we'll have a sundry shop that you could shop at but

[00:55:35] other than that everything's included so you just need your hands to drink and eat with and then you're good um but yeah well let's get to the nitty gritty details so we've kind of talked about it being in October what's what are the actual dates how do people

[00:55:52] get tickets um things like that the street dinners on October 25th okay the actual festivals October 26th people can get tickets at fbgfoodandwine.com um follow us on Instagram of course and Facebook well we're pretty active on both um the best way to get notified first about things

[00:56:13] genuinely is our newsletter um I like to take care of my newsletter people I won't overwhelm you um but and I will give you little treats for subscribing so you might get a couple hours

[00:56:25] heads up you might get 24 hour heads up and that might be genuinely the make or break of whether you're going to get in or not um to an event since they're so limited um so I

[00:56:35] would recommend doing that our tickets on sale now yes they are on sale right now awesome yeah so you go get online right now if you haven't already and get those tickets and make your room

[00:56:46] reservations yes make your room reservations and on the website you mentioned you have a listing of the different um places where they can go get a room if they need to find partners to to find

[00:56:55] a place to stay yep we'll have a list of accommodations um as well as safe rides um recommended places to make reservations at things like that now I was lucky to be able to attend

[00:57:13] several of their preview week events that they held uh just a couple of weeks ago in July and if what we had there is any sense of what we're going to see in October you are in for a

[00:57:24] treat they had some amazing food they had great wines great fun cocktails I really enjoyed all of the different preview events I was able to attend and I was even sitting next to one of

[00:57:35] the events a winemaker from Sonoma who was blown away with the presentation of the dinner and of the servings the wines and all of that she said this really feels like a type of event that you would

[00:57:46] find in Napa or Sonoma I think so Haley again is really focused on getting this to be a really elevated luxury type of event now the badges and tickets are on sale now they went on sale

[00:57:58] during the preview week and I know they were starting to go fast so you got to jump on it if you're wanting to attend this don't hesitate make sure you go out get your badges you got your

[00:58:08] tickets uh plan your whole weekend stay as Haley and Dave said they have a list on their website where you can actually go out and find all your travel information you're lodging anything that you

[00:58:18] may need to really make a weekend out of it now the festival itself is going to be on October 26th 2024 that preview dinner they're going to have the night before is on the 25th and as you

[00:58:28] heard in the interview Haley's got a lot of great events planned outside of even just the regular event you can get tickets for all of those so make sure to check out their website for all of those

[00:58:38] tickets and all that information for that weekend of the 25th and the 26th and for even more info make sure you follow them on instagram on their facebook accounts and sign up for that newsletter as Haley said you won't be disappointed she'll give you a lot of

[00:58:51] great information there uh as well as maybe some chances to some early bird kind of stuff and watch this space and look for me out at the festival i'm going to try to be out there and do some

[00:59:01] live on-site interviews some things i've not done before on a podcast like this but i'm hoping to interview maybe some of the chefs and the winemakers and maybe even some listeners

[00:59:10] out there while i'm at the festival so uh it's going to be a great event and i hope to see many of you listeners out there make sure you find me if you see me there now to get all of the

[00:59:20] juicy details to be able to purchase those badges i know you're anxiously waiting you're going to want to go to their website it's www.fbgfoodandwine.com so that's fbgfoodandwine.com for Fredericksburg food and wine.com so go out there you're going to find information about the

[00:59:40] schedule of events you'll be able to find your tickets and badges you can order those right there on the website you'll find ways to get involved if you'd like to do that and again that

[00:59:50] information on the local travel places and lodging and things like that everything that you're going to need for that weekend you'll be able to find there on that website all right well that is the

[01:00:00] newly revamped Fredericksburg food and wine festival i hope you're as excited about it as i am counting down the days until october gets here so i can check it out and again hope to bring

[01:00:09] you some live information from the festival that i record on site but until that time i would ask if you might do me a favor so i really need ratings and reviews for my podcast i only have

[01:00:21] a handful of them and they really help me get the word out to others so if you're enjoying any of these episodes and things like that would you go out to wherever you get the podcast and it's

[01:00:31] primarily on youtube uh you can go in and like subscribe and follow leave comments about the episode there and then if you listen to the audio version on any podcast service you can go

[01:00:41] and do a rating and review there as well so if you would do that for me it really helps me to get seen by other people who might could benefit from this information and if you'd like to become a

[01:00:50] patron of the show tell me cover the costs that i have for bringing this amazing show to you then you can go to my website at www.texasundervine.com go to the very top there should be a little

[01:01:01] link that says become a patron and it will take you to my patreon site for just a few dollars a month you'll get access to bonus materials and things like that and it'll

[01:01:10] actually help me cover all the costs that i have for this show and be on the lookout for current patreon subscribers thank you so much and for new patreon subscribers i'm about to start adding

[01:01:19] some new benefits and some new things up there so if you're already a patreon subscriber again thank you so much you're going to see some fun new things coming to you and then if you're

[01:01:29] thinking about subscribing go and jump on the boat so you'll be jumping in and getting some of that stuff as well can't really talk about it yet but i promise it's coming all right well

[01:01:37] that's my time for today so now i gotta get back on track of heading out to some great wine destinations and bring you some more good locations and info so i'm gonna head out on the road

[01:01:46] but until then subscribe to the podcast follow my socials to be notified anytime there's a new episode and until then happy trails and bottoms up y'all thanks for listening to texas undervine we strive to provide you with the best information about wine businesses all over texas

[01:02:08] be sure to check out our website at texasundervine.com and follow us on our socials at texas undervine to stay up on all the upcoming episodes please email us with any suggestions or feedback also contact us if you're interested in donating sponsoring or advertising on the podcast

[01:02:24] just to help us cover our expenses and bring even more great info to you in future episodes above all travel safely and most especially drink responsibly howdy vine trippers did you know that i now have a merchandise store for texas undervine

[01:02:48] i only have a handful of limited items but you can go check those out and wear your texas undervine swag if you'd like to tell all your friends about the great wine locations we have

[01:02:57] here in texas and maybe get them interested in the podcast as well so there are things like t-shirts there uh there's a hoodie there's a beady a ball cap things like that but one of

[01:03:07] the most exciting things i have right now is my limited time offer t-shirt that's my season one t-shirt so this is your tasting through texas texas undervine season one t-shirt it's only

[01:03:17] going to be available for a little short amount of time on the back it has all the different locations like a band tour t-shirt so this is a limited time item and you can go out and get

[01:03:26] it now and one of the great things about that t-shirt is a portion of every sale goes to support the texas hill country winery scholarship fund so you know that by buying that t-shirt you're also

[01:03:38] investing in the growing and flourishing of an amazing wine industry here in texas and all of those people that are going to come and make it even better check out that merchandise store

[01:03:47] it's on my website at texasundervine.com just go up to the top you'll see the link for the merchandise store