A Fredericksburg Wine Weekend Itinerary

Friday

1. 13:00 pm — Leave Austin. Traffic west on 290 builds after four, so earlier is better.
2. 24:30 pm — Arrive and check in. Drop bags, do not sit down.
3. 35:00 pm — Walk Main Street while the shops are still open. It is the best hour of the day for it.
4. 46:00 pm — Beer and pretzels at Altdorf Biergarten or the Auslander. You have been in a car; sit outside.
5. 57:30 pm — Dinner. Otto's German Bistro for the most interesting cooking in town, or Cabernet Grill if you want the deepest Texas wine list.
6. 69:30 pm — A nightcap on Main Street, or back to the porch. Tomorrow starts early.

Saturday: the 290 corridor

This is the day the trip is built around. Head east out of town and work the corridor westward back toward Fredericksburg, which keeps most of the wineries on your right and puts you near dinner at the end.

1. 18:30 am — Breakfast at Old German Bakery or Emma + Ollie. Eat properly; it matters later.
2. 210:00 am — Drive twenty-five minutes east to Hye.
3. 310:30 am — First tasting at William Chris Vineyards. The best wine of the day, tasted while your palate is fresh.
4. 412:00 pm — Fifteen minutes west to Stonewall.
5. 512:30 pm — Lunch. Options are thin on the corridor, so plan ahead — a BBQ stop, a winery kitchen, or a picnic where it is permitted.
6. 62:00 pm — Second tasting at Kuhlman Cellars. Seated and guided, which slows the pace at exactly the right point.
7. 73:30 pm — Third tasting at Pedernales Cellars. Take the terrace and stay longer than you planned.
8. 85:30 pm — Back into town. Twenty minutes.
9. 96:00 pm — An hour off. Shower, sit, do nothing.
10. 107:30 pm — Dinner at Vaudeville or Hill & Vine.

Sunday

Sunday is for the part of Fredericksburg that is not wine. Pick one of these depending on your group and the weather.

Option A: Enchanted Rock

1. 17:30 am — Breakfast, then drive eighteen miles north. Entry reservations are required and the park fills early.
2. 28:30 am — The summit hike is about a mile round trip and steep. Ninety minutes covers it comfortably.
3. 310:30 am — Back toward town.
4. 411:30 am — Lunch on Main Street, then drive home.

Option B: history and peaches

1. 19:00 am — The National Museum of the Pacific War. Allow two hours minimum; it deserves three.
2. 211:30 am — Drive east to Stonewall for the LBJ Ranch, and the peach stands if it is May through August.
3. 31:00 pm — Lunch, then home.

Option C: one more winery

1. 110:00 am — A slow breakfast and a last walk down Main Street.
2. 211:30 am — One estate tasting close to 290 — Grape Creek or Augusta Vin — so it is on your way out.
3. 31:30 pm — Drive back to Austin, home by three.

If you only have one night

Compress rather than cut. Arrive Saturday morning instead of Friday afternoon, do two wineries instead of three, and keep Saturday dinner. The mistake people make with one night is trying to fit the full Saturday into a half day and arriving at the third tasting exhausted.

1. 19:00 am Saturday — Leave Austin.
2. 211:00 am — First tasting on the corridor.
3. 31:00 pm — Lunch.
4. 42:30 pm — Second tasting.
5. 54:30 pm — Check in, walk Main Street.
6. 67:30 pm — Dinner.
7. 7Sunday — Breakfast, Pacific War museum or one last winery, home by mid-afternoon.

What to pack

• Layers. Hill Country mornings in spring and fall can be thirty degrees cooler than the afternoon.
• Shoes you can stand in for three hours and walk on gravel in.
• A hat and sunscreen from April through October. Most tasting terraces are only partly shaded.
• A cooler or wine tote for the drive home — a case in a hot trunk in July does not survive.
• Cash for the peach stands, some of which are cheerfully cash-only.

Two nights, three wineries on Saturday, and one thing on Sunday that has nothing to do with wine. That is the whole formula.