perfect pairings

William Chris Vineyards winemakers dream big with Hye Society events

Photo by Miguel Lecuona
Photo by Miguel Lecuona
Photo by Miguel Lecuona

When William “Bill” Blackmon and Chris Brundrett first saw a 100-year-old dilapidated house situated on a vast a plot of land on Highway 290 in Hye, Texas, they didn’t just see fallow farmland. Rather, they saw the perfect location for William Chris Vineyards, a family owned and operated winery that they would open in 2009.

Blackmon and Brundrett converted that old house into a rustic tasting room, built production and storage facilities and planted their main vineyard in Granite Hill near Fredericksburg. Since its inception, the winery has enjoyed a steady growth in production of its 13 varieties and has more than 40 acres of vineyards under management in the Hill Country and High Plains of Texas.

In the first year, William Chris produced 800 cases using 100 percent Texas-grown grapes. In its second year, the winery doubled its production. And today? The team is increased its output to about 6,500 cases per year.

Though William Chris Vineyards has come a long way since its opening, but Blackmon and Brundrett still have dreams they wish to see realized.

The winery is intended to be a destination for wine tourism and events, as well as food and wine education. The regular Hye Society Wine Club events do a great job of showing off the facilities, educating on wine pairings and giving guests a glimpse into the winery’s future.

This month, I attended one of those information-soaked Hye Society events — The Watermelon Thump and Chef Throw Down.

The event featured a vineyard tour to help guests "connect" with the land where the wine is born. We began in the gorgeous Oak Grove, a focal point of the estate vineyards and future home to weddings and other large-scale celebrations. There, we were treated to a taste of the 2010 William Chris Current rosé with fresh watermelon.

William Chris Vineyards also regularly features the artisanal cheeses from Brazos Valley Cheese, a Waco-based family venture. A representative of the company brought a selection of cheese made from raw cow’s milk sourced within a 25 mile radius. Each of the cheeses paired well with the 2010 William Chris Blanc du Bois, a refreshing tart and citrusy white wine.

With those summer pairings in hand, we toured the newly planted vineyards. The highlight of the evening, however, was the Chef Throw Down portion of the Hye Society event. Four Austin-area chefs were tasked with creating two courses, the first of which had to feature fresh Go Texan watermelon, while the second reflected the cuisine of each chef's respective restaurant.

Chef Ben Huselton of Paggi House prepared compressed watermelon with mascarpone, black salt, micro-mint and extra virgin olive oil. The dish let the watermelon speak for itself. His second course was Black tea brined duck breast, with quinoa salad and orange gremolata, dressed with natural au jus made with the duck bones. The duck paired particularly well with the 2010 William Chris Enchante Bordeaux blend.

Chef Shane Stark of Kenichi prepared a fresh summer salad of sweet and sour watermelon, with cucumbers, arugula and goat feta. His second course was a delightfully light watermelon carpaccio with tuna crudo, wasabi granita and water cress. He compressed the watermelon with plum wine and yuzu juice. This dish paired well with the slightly sweet William Chris Current rosé.

Chef Rich Taylor of Quality Seafood created a watermelon ceviche lettuce wrap featuring lobster, shrimp, scallop, orange, mint ginger and hint of lime. His second course was an amazing Texas Bouillabaisse made with Texas Gulf shrimp, Gulf oysters, mussels and clams, cooked with William Chris wine in the clam juice and fish stock. The fruity 2010 William Chris Emotion red blend complimented with this fish stew nicely.

Chef Joseph Bannister of Rose Hill Manor whipped up a light appetizer of seared scallop, watermelon kohlrabi salad and watermelon ketchup, served with an icy watermelon mint sorbet. His second course centered around smoked duck ham, with fresh black eyed pea salad, goat cheese aioli and crunchy house-made puff rice. The 2010 William Chris Hunter Merlot and Cabernet blend made a good bedfellow with the salty, bold duck.

With so much fantastic food that paired so well with William Chris wines, the voting was tight. In the end, Chef Stark took the prize for his watermelon summer salad, but Chef Taylor definitely wowed the crowd with his Texas Bouillabaisse.

The evening was capped off by Brundrett's blending of wine from barrels of the 2011 vintage, which was a great way to get everyone excited for the upcoming bottling.

Events like the The Watermelon Thump and Chef Throw Down are a fantastic way for William Chris Vineyards to achieve its dream of becoming a destination for all things Texas food and wine. It certainly is a far cry from the desolate farmland they found just three years ago.

unspecified

Dinner and a Show

Voxtrot plays acoustic set for dinner series making a name in Austin

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop

Photo by Brynn Osborn

Voxtrot played as a trio to a small crowd of lucky fans.

As much as entertainment gigs dry up in December, the iconic Austin band Voxtrot was busy. A few days before playing the Holiday Hootenanny — a mini festival at Radio East with other big names like Of Montreal and Danny Brown — the band appeared in Bastrop for an intimate acoustic set and a bit of storytelling after a multi-course dinner.

The dinner on December 10 was attended by locals who won tickets in a free raffle, but there will be more chances for Austinites to purchase tickets for future parties in 2025. Eric Weiner, the main organizer of the series, says he has "big plans for Austin" this upcoming year, but he keeps events under wraps until about a month out to maintain the mystery.

There were also videographers on-hand capturing the performance, so fans who keep up with Voxtrot will be seeing those videos in the coming months.

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop The band showed up in smart suits.Photo by Brynn Osborn

Weiner is the founder of the Wild Honey Pie, formerly a popular music blog that's turned into a creative agency. They're based in New York, and have hosted events in Seattle, the Catskills, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. But this wasn't the first event in Austin.

Most recently, the Wild Honey Pie hosted a dinner at Chef Mashama Bailey's now-closed Grey Market, featuring a concert by Zella Day. But first-ever dinner in Austin in 2019 was catered by local chef Sonya Cote at Eden East; the Voxtrot show was a chance to reunite at Cote's current digs, Store House Market and Eatery.

"Ever since, I've been just trying to find any excuse to work with Sonia again, and this kind of fell into our laps," said Weiner in a call with CultureMap ahead of the event.

He added that his relationship with Voxtrot — whose lo-fi, semi-retro song "The Start of Something" may be familiar to many Austinites — started simply because he was a fan. He estimates that the song has been on every romantic playlist he's made since college.

Remembering past dinner parties with lead singer Ramesh Srivastava, Weiner says, "He's so artistic. His music means the absolute world to me. ... If we like working with an artist once, we're not going to stop there."

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop Voxtrot joined in on the food festivities.Photo by Brynn Osborn

Voxtrot famously broke up in 2010, which made their surprise return to the stage in 2022 all the more exciting. Srivastava doesn't shy away from talking about the period in between, and broached the subject with a couple of jokes during the Bastrop show. It's clear how an audience of dozens crowded around a few chairs changes the tone of the performance — not to mention that Voxtrot played as a trio that night, with drummer Matt Simon and bassist Jason Chronis.

In the lighthearted "stage" banter — which was necessary not just because of the size of the audience, but because the show was in a tent outside and the instruments needed almost constant tuning in the cold air — Srivastava also mused that at age 41, he might be approaching his days as a crooner.

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop The dinner party format meant fans could spend some time chatting with the band.Photo by Brynn Osborn

Among the vignettes he told to introduce songs was a Bastrop County connection: Srivastava grew up in Austin and remembers creating a mythology around Smithville's Norma Jean Boulevard, which he spotted through the window on car trips. Part of that fiction included who might live there, but he never guessed he'd be in a band with a bassist who fit the bill. He dedicated the following performance of "Long Haul" to the fateful street.

The Wild Honey Pie dinner series has gained popularity for its laid-back approach to an exclusive outing. Shared tables mean people get to chat during dinner — and as fans of whoever is playing at the end of the night, they already have something in common. Weiner met his wife through someone he befriended at one of the parties.

"The whole setup of the event is to make friends," he said. "So it's hard to go and not make new connections."

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop Eric Weiner and Sonya Cote.Photo by Brynn Osborn

An interesting menu also meant there was plenty to discuss, including "Crostini" Bastrop with pâté, parsley, pickled vegetables; a toasty Bon Fire Soup with pumpkin, coconut carrot "bacon," and crispy crickets; and a wild venison pie. (Vegans were welcome to the party, with a parallel menu.)

These bites were accompanied by creative drinks featuring Tito's Handmade Vodka: the Raised By Wolves, a black vodka daiquiri thanks to charcoal in the simple syrup; and The Start of Something, a refreshing pink lemonade-like cocktail with blueberry simple syrup and honey liqueur. Brand partners are a big part of keeping these events going, and in this case, Tito's was the reason people were able to attend for free.

Wild Honey Pie Voxtrot dinner party in Bastrop This is quite a few steps above finding a snack somewhere before a concert.Photo by Brynn Osborn

If Austinites want updates on the next Austin dinner party, they can check the lineup at thewildhoneypie.com, or sign up for the newsletter on the same page. There are also announcements on Instagram, plus videos of acoustic performances at other parties.

According to Weiner, it sounds like the next event isn't too far away. "We love Austin too much to only come once a year," he said.

concerts live music dinner bastrop chefs