- Drive from Austin
- 35 minutes to town, 45 to Driftwood
- Wineries
- About a dozen, plus tasting rooms
- Also here
- Jester King, Treaty Oak, Desert Door, Deep Eddy, Vista
- The landmark
- The Salt Lick BBQ, in Driftwood
- Best months
- March–May and October–November
The geography
Three areas matter, and they are close enough together that you can combine any two comfortably.
35 min from Austin
Dripping Springs proper
The town itself, strung along 290, with Mercer Street as its historic core. Bell Springs, Solaro, and Hawk's Shadow sit in the hills north and west of it, along with Treaty Oak and Jester King.
40–45 min from Austin
Driftwood
Southwest of town, down FM-1826 and FM-150. This is where the density is: Duchman, Fall Creek Driftwood, Driftwood Estate, Wimberley Valley, Desert Door, Vista Brewing, and The Salt Lick.
50–60 min from Austin
Toward Wimberley and Hamilton Pool
The outer edges. Westcave Cellars is out toward Hamilton Pool, and Wimberley is twenty minutes south of Driftwood with Blue Hole and Jacob's Well.
The wine
The Dripping Springs and Driftwood wineries sit inside the Texas Hill Country AVA, on the same thin limestone soils as the rest of the region. Production is smaller than in Fredericksburg, and the operations are more likely to be family-run with the owner somewhere on the property. Duchman's Italian varietal program and Fall Creek's Tempranillo are the two things here that stand up against anything in the state.
As everywhere in Texas, the varieties to order are the heat-adapted ones: Tempranillo, Mourvedre, Aglianico, Montepulciano, and Tannat among the reds; Vermentino, Viognier, Albarino, and Picpoul on the white side. Ask where the fruit was grown — some is estate, some comes from the High Plains, and the good producers will tell you plainly.
Austin Wine Car
The closest wine country to Austin, driven for you
Three wineries in Dripping Springs and Driftwood, with an optional stop at The Salt Lick. Door-to-door from anywhere in Austin.
Not ready to book?
Beyond wine
This is the thing that makes Dripping Springs genuinely distinct. Very few wine regions anywhere have this much good non-wine drinking within a fifteen-minute radius.
- Jester King Brewery — farmhouse ales fermented with wild yeast, wood-fired pizza, and a large ranch property with goats. Nationally respected and worth a couple of hours.
- Treaty Oak Distilling — whiskey, gin, and rum on a ranch with a restaurant, a lawn, and live music.
- Desert Door Distillery — Texas sotol, made from a desert plant rather than agave. A beautifully designed room and a genuinely unusual spirit.
- Deep Eddy Vodka — the distillery behind the Austin brand, with a tasting room.
- Vista Brewing — a serious kitchen and a wide lawn over a valley. The best non-winery patio in the area.
- Twisted X and Last Stand — local breweries that round out the beer options.
Food
The Salt Lick in Driftwood is the anchor: open pits, communal tables, family-style plates, and a bring-your-own-beer policy that has made it a Texas institution. Trattoria Lisina next to Duchman does handmade pasta on a terrace. In town, Tillie's at Camp Lucy is the destination dinner, Rolling in Thyme & Dough and Homespun Kitchen cover the daytime, and Mazama does the coffee. Vista and Jester King both cook well enough to be a legitimate lunch rather than a beer stop.
Water and landscape
- Hamilton Pool Preserve — a collapsed grotto with a waterfall, west of town. Reservations are required and sell out well in advance; swimming is not always permitted depending on bacteria levels.
- Jacob's Well — a deep artesian spring near Wimberley. Reservations required for swimming in season.
- Blue Hole Regional Park — Wimberley's cypress-lined swimming hole. Reservations required in summer.
- Pedernales Falls State Park — northwest toward Johnson City, with dramatic layered limestone and good hiking.
- Reimers Ranch Park — climbing, mountain biking, and river access on the Pedernales.
Where to stay
Honestly, most people do not. Dripping Springs has very little conventional lodging, and the standard move is to stay in Austin and come out for the day. Camp Lucy is the notable exception — a wedding-venue property with rooms, grounds, and Tillie's restaurant on site — along with a growing set of cabins, casitas, and glamping sites on ranch land around the area. If you want a hotel with a lobby, you will be in Austin.
When to go
| Season | Notes |
|---|---|
| March–May | The best window. Wildflowers, mild temperatures, everything open. |
| June–August | Hot, but the swimming holes are open and evenings on a patio are excellent. |
| September–October | Harvest is finishing, temperatures drop, and the crowds thin after Labor Day. |
| November–February | Cool and quiet. Fewer people, more attention, and firepits at the breweries. |
A day that works
- 111:00 — Leave Austin.
- 211:30 — First tasting at Bell Springs or Solaro.
- 31:00 — Drive to Driftwood, twenty minutes.
- 41:30 — Lunch at The Salt Lick or Trattoria Lisina.
- 53:00 — Second tasting at Duchman.
- 64:30 — Third tasting at Driftwood Estate or Fall Creek for the hillside view.
- 76:00 — Back to Austin.