Austin Magic

 Visiting Austin, TX

The Carpenter Hotel is a cool little spot tucked into what feels like an old area of Austin. It is hard to tell what is old and what is new in this town that is a city. The “bad areas” are now trendy, the “new areas” are now not cool and the “old areas” are cool again. It’s a lot to keep up with in Austin… being cool. 

Normally I am a quick flight in, judge at our favorite little wine competition, tour wineries and am out! This year I added a couple days to visit my lifelong friend and see the city. I’ve been to Austin several times over the years and it seems to always elude me. What IS it that makes people swoon over this place? In an attempt to connect, I have partied on 6th Street, I have seen Rob Schnieder play; evidently the musical mascot of Austin, you haven’t SEEN Austin until you have seen Rob. And I have done the more adult foodie tour and shopping. It is all fun, charming and memorable, but people are wildly obsessed with their city here and I have always wondered why. 

On this particular trip, I made my friend leave her home and kids to stay at a hotel, eat at beautiful restaurants, shop the areas of town that she once knew well and have been redone. It was an effort to play tourist through the eyes of a local. What I found was the secret side of Austin and I have to say, I am smitten.

It was an unseasonably lovely fall in Austin. The temperature was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. The air smelled of moisture on lofty green leaves of oak trees and  friendly ferns hugging your legs. A breeze brings scents of freshly washed hair, a musky cologne and freshly brewed coffee. It’s a comforting combination that makes a city feel familiar. Neighborhoods mix into huge highrises, charming bistros can be found sprinkled in with gorgeous luxury restaurants attached to palatial hotels. The combination of fancy meets flip flops is confusing until you try it. Yes, I do want to wear my converse with my cut off jeans, expensive lavish jewelry and dazzling club level top. It’s like being a kid dressing themselves in all their favorite things...and therein lies the secret. Austin is the dream of your childhood self. At once you can have the dazzle of rainbows and unicorns and the comfort of your favorite blankie mixed together in any concept you want: music venue, restaurant, dress shop, hotel, even your job.

One of the biggest eye opening insights into Austin has been the incredible wine selection. For a town that appears to be built on craft beer and super cool absinthe bars, the depth of the wine selection in restaurants, bars and even cafes was downright shocking! Wines from Greece, Pakestan, India were regularly listed beside the usual culprits from Italy, Spain and France, but even the listing from the familiar countries most people associate with wine, rang with special interest. From dinner at The Carpenter Hotel Restaurant, cheersing with a bright Alsatian Brut Rose, to breakfast at Proper Hotel’s Peacock Restaurant with a sensual Greek white, oysters at Perlas with a classic Sancerre, tapas at Kalimotxo with a robust Grenacha, and escargot with a gorgeous little Loire Cab Franc… at an Absinthe Bar! The last in the list was perhaps the most surprising because it was in fact a legit Absinthe Bar, considered the best Absinthe Bar in the city. The Somm, Ethan, at Peche Absinthe Bar, expressed his challenge in crafting a perfect wine list in a bar known for its culty pre-prohibition drinks, but I could not have been more pleased to find a delightful mix of wines listed that showed true imagination and knowledge to pull together. It is my personal pet-peeve to go to a bar and not have a decent wine option, in this day and age, it is simply ridiculous not to serve wine. And the swanky Peche absolutely out did themselves. I can not wait to return to Austin to find more gems and revisit these. 

My trip to Austin, actually just outside the city in Buda (pronounced “BYOO-duh”), a charming little peek into rural, small town Texas, each year is for the Texas International Wine Competition (TXIWC). The competition is small and intimate yet making a name for itself a mere 6 years after the first. The Brainchild of Bonnie Villacompose, TXIWC hosts some of the biggest names in wine judging including Count John Umberto Salvi, one of the earliest Masters of Wine in the world. Let that sink in for a moment, The Count actually flies from Bordeaux, France, each year at the ripe age of 84, to a tiny town in Texas to judge at this little competition. Clearly the TXIWC is doing something right. 

My first judging opportunity at TXIWC was in its 3rd year. Familiar faces from other competitions became favorite new wine friends who then became family after the weekend spent in Texas together. Each year we eagerly return to Buda to reunite. Also each year, the competition and many of its events are held at The Lodge at Grace (www.TheLodgeBuda.com). This picture perfect, beautiful horse farm stretches as far as the eye can see and is home to a charming lodge that is the perfect place to get married… or host a large scale wine competition. 

In 2021 a small collection of judges from a variety of countries, judge hundreds of wines from all over the world in 2 days. It is book-ended with a judges reception dinner to kick it all off and finishes with a tour of Texas Hill Country. Dinners and plenty of wine are dotted through the weekend and fun is had at every turn.These highlights are some of the glue that bind these judges not only to each other, but the joy of being a judge at this competition. 

Throughout the competition, the key players worked diligently to make sure the judges were comfortable and well taken care of, the wines were organized and treated with the utmost care and they worked tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly. Nancy Stabins was this year's Director of Operational Processes & Judge Room Manager. Nancy brought her graceful coordinating skills from many years working with other International Wine Competitions and the American Wine Society’s National Conferences to the table, making her a natural choice for this daunting task. Her job was to be a liaison between the judges room and the back room. Setting-up and managing the wines, the volunteers and ensuring integrity of the judges not knowing anything about the wines in this 100% blind competition is imperative. It is also a huge part of what makes the competition happen, requiring many people to take this often unglamourous side, very seriously. Nancy has been helping run the back room at TXIWC since the competition first started and said the biggest difference she has seen is that the quality of wines has increased greatly which she attributes to Bonnie’s direct work with the Texas wineries. That is a pretty significant fingerprint TXIWC has put on the success of Texas Wines. 

Natashia Remchuk, the new Competition Director, has an illustrious career in the wine industry as a writer, judge and competition organizer. She stepped in to help the team manage the ever growing competition and has made some subtle, but important changes. While the competition started with Bonnie’s long time elite wine judging friends coming to help get the competition on its feet, it was also filled out by local wine enthusiasts, not necessarily tasting professionals, to undertake the task of getting all of the entries tasted and rated. In a time when it was bare bones, judges staying in camp trailers and feasting on cold sandwiches, they did what they needed to to simply have the competition happen. Now, as the TXIWC has blossomed, judges are seeking an invite and the level of professional judges has thus increased. Natashia took it upon herself to find and interview new faces as well as cultivate the best of the tenured judges out on the circuit. One of her finds was first time judge, Karen Blackburn, Director of Brand Management for Serendipity Wines, an import and distribution company in Texas and California. Karen shared what she thought of being a newbie, exuberantly saying that she loved being able to take her “17 years of tasting and wine analyzing experience and distill it into judging wines purely on their merit”. She sat on my panel and quickly learned the ropes, sliding into rhythm with the three of us experienced judges naturally and effortlessly. That is not always the case, some new judges freeze up, others try to overcompensate and some seem to implode under pressure. 

Stylish judges jackets, hotel room wine swaps, and hilarious story telling rolled over the weekend and ended with a chartered bus taking us to three of the top wineries in Texas.

The Texas Winery Tour included a return to Ron Yates Winery, a new visit to Carter Creek who won Best Texas Red at the competition, and Ab Astris Winery. To say we all are a wine family is too simple, in fact many of us have created outside projects together, support each other's ventures and are sometimes a shoulder to cry on. This makes the wine touring day all that more memorable and significant to each of us. The tour starts at 8:45am with a champagne toast, is that too early to be drinking? Not for wine professionals! We all share bottles, stories and more laughs than you can imagine. You see the true beauty behind a successful competition is the people, the personalities and the bonds created, and the TXIWC has loads of it!

Stop one was Ab Astris (www.AbAstrisWinery.com), a winery new to me, opened in recent years and has quickly garnered attention as a spot not to be missed. Aleida Elwell, Sommelier and Special Events Director for the winery, outdid herself, creating a truly memorable welcome and tasting atmosphere with charming tasting jars filled to the brim with cured meats,cheeses, olives, fruit, almonds, chocolates and savory crackers. These delightful little gifts were so stunning they became the focus of every single judge's Instagram and it took a persuasive winemaker to pull our focus. The tasting was excellent and finished with the star of the show, the 2018 Sagrantino red wine. Known mostly as Monefalco from Umbria, this grape seems to be doing very well in the Texas High Planes. It's usually overly tannic traits were well harnessed and the wine presented with elegance. The property is beautiful and the tasting area is nicely situated to enjoy the view.

Stop two was the impressive estate of Carter Creek Winery Resort and Spa (www.CarterCreek.com). This winery is an incredible venue with everything you could possibly hope for. The large lawn surrounded by gardens is swathed with a stage and dance area on one side and patio seating on the other. Large TVs hang over the patio promising optimal viewing to see your favorite sports team play. We were welcomed to lunch in a sunny, window lined room. Staff stood at the ready pouring wine and bringing in large plates of perfect Texas BBQ. The winemaker, Jon McPherson, son of “Doc” McPherson who is attributed to being one of the founders and pioneers of the Texas wine production, flew in from California (where they have several other winery resorts) to meet with us. The chef stood at the ready to talk about pairings and how to properly create world famous BBQ, which I learned never has BBQ sauce. We were escorted from lunch into Old 290 Brewery, yes they have a brewery here too, where we met brewmaster Justin Zimmerman. His handlebar mustache curled up wide with a charming smile as he excitedly walked us through his process. His cowboy boots clanked as he danced from metal steps to raised platforms and even off a railing as he swung upside down over the edge to demonstrate how a machine worked. The art of his beer is apparently due to his fascinating work with water. A style of beer has a native home and that home has different minerals in the water reflecting the soil, so why not create the water that makes that style of beer so brilliant? I had to know what that process was like, how do you alter water to create a new water in the style you want? Well, Justin was kind enough to share the secret! They run the water through reverse osmosis; they are then able to filter out compounds and leave a stripped down version. He is then able to add his own level of salts back in to match a region. Justin went on to explain why water is such a crucial part of making his beers by explaining that “water is everything! It is the building block of life. When NASA does research on a planet they look for water. When we want our vines and hops to grow healthy and strong we give them water and nutrients. Brewing water is no different, and it has been proven for over 1000 years to be one of the most crucial ingredients for its success. A famous water profile from Burton, England comes from the river Trent. It [Trent River water] is very hard, and has a large calcium content. However, it is what a majority of Brewers use for any pale ale, whether American Pale Ale, English Pale Ale, or the ever so popular India Pale Ale. That calcium content allows the hops to shine. The profile is now called “Burtonized” water. You can find premade solutions for smaller batches in most homebrew stores around the country [USA]”. I don’t know about you, but I found this fascinating! 

After the beer we were back to vino with a tasting of excellently crafted wines. They are clean, well built and balanced wines showing skill in the winemaking and why they are so successful. They make sparkling, whites, reds, blends, and varietal releases with a sparkling peach being a crown jewel. 

Our 3rd and last stop was to see our friend Ron Yates and his winemaker Todd Crowell (www.RonYatesWines.com). After a day of drinking, Ron and Todd are the perfect way to finish the day! Clad in shorts and flip flops, they hosted our tasting in the winemaking facility rather than the Tasting Room, giving our group privacy. They opened unreleased specialties like the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon which I will be buying as soon as I can get my greedy little hands on it. They also climbed the towers of oak barrels fetching samples and entertaining us with wild stories making it clear that the wines are not only wonderful, but they clearly have a wonderful time making them. 

The bus returned us to our hotel and we said our goodbyes, already looking forward to next year. Another TXIWC was in the books and better than ever!