Okay, this is what the PR blast shouted our way: “Bee Cave rivals Napa Valley with a diverse range of breweries, wineries, and distilleries, complemented by a burgeoning food and restaurant scene.”

And we knew that a lot of oenophiles would be triggered by that statement, as California’s Napa Vally has long been regarded as pretty much the American apotheosis of the wine industry.

[Note: The author Lenny Kleinfeld’s terrific, viticulture-inflected first novel Shooters and Chasers wasn’t set out in Fredericksburg, after all, was it?]

And so we wondered just how accurate that Bee Cave boast might be – especially as, quoting it above, we’d had to add our own Oxford comma to the sentence.

[Note: Never mind Vampire Weekend, we’re more about Damaged Bug.]

But your current reporter isn’t a wine aficionado, tbh, and has also been too busy producing reams of single-estate, artisanally crafted journalism to investigate such claims.

Luckily, though, he knows some people.

He knows, to be precise, Rowan and John Halliday â€“ wine lovers both well-informed and linguistically articulate – who’ve done the whole Napa Valley thing and who, in fact, have previously vetted wine for the Austin Chronicle. So we dispatched that local married couple of thoughtful hedonists toward the town of Bee Cave on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, to spend a weekend at the Sonesta Hotel and partake of the hospitality therein and explore a few of the wineries and breweries and distillers nearby.

You know: A little investigative sojourn sort of thing?

Just so.

Two nights at the Sonesta. Two different winery/distillery visits in the daytime. A refreshing escape into the tree-studded hills and verdant expanses and laidback resorts that lie just beyond the increasing rat-race ruckus of Austin, Texas. And now Rowan and John Halliday have reported back, and we’ve got the scoop right here:

Rowan: The Sonesta was very friendly and well-organized. They had, obviously, a lot of weddings there, because there were little gift bags all lined up. I was impressed by the degree to which they had signage for all their Covid protocols – printed plastic signs. The rooms are very comfortable – the bed was super comfy.

John: I slept through the whole night and my back never hurt. Which, for me, that’s usually impossible. Those beds are great.

Rowan: It was really easy to find your way around the hotel, too – a nice, simple layout. I don’t know that I’d call it a destination, exactly. It’s not a hotel you’d go to, to just stay in the hotel? But it’s so close to a lot of attractions in the Hill Country, and I’d definitely put family up there. If were were going to spend time driving around the Bee Cave area and, you know, doing stuff – the Sonesta is a great base of operations.

Brenner: And there’s a bar on the roof?

Rowan: Meridian 98, yes – that’s a high-quality bar. The cocktails were really good –

John: They have honey of some kind in every drink.

Rowan: And every cocktail has at least one form of Texas-sourced alcohol, too. I really appreciate that, because I’m a big fan of local things. The appetizers were tasty, the service was good. The – oh, the bacon-wrapped shrimp were delicious! There was some road noise, from six stories below, but I’d happily sit up there any time – and eat some of their appetizers. We were there at sunset – a lovely view – and it was such a relaxing, comfortable vibe.

…

Read the full article here.