What Happened on the Heroic Hye Wine Hunt?

A Treasure Hunt through the lands of Hye to find your favorite wines

As summer doesn’t want to let go of the calendar, activities continue to fill it up. Many of these activities have gotten in the way of people’s wine trips. This results in many tasting rooms being slower than normal. This is a great time to get out and enjoy them.

The fine folks at Hye Meadow Winery put together a fun “travel scavenger hunt” package that takes visitors to six wineries from Hye to Stonewall. Tickets for The Heroic Hye Wine Hunt included Meierstone Vineyards, Adega Vinho, Pedernales Cellars, Vinovium, 12 FIRES Winery & Vineyard, and of course the host winery, Hye Meadow. This self-guided tour had patrons visiting these wineries, and during the course of the tasting would be asked a trivia question either based on information in the provided booklet or during the tasting. Once the question is answered correctly, a small “treasure” trinket was awarded. At the end of the tour, all participants gathered back at Hye Meadow for the verification of treasures. If you had visited all wineries and received all trinkets, your name would be put in a “hat” to draw for even more prizes. These first, second, and third place winnings generously donated by the participating wineries added up to about $1,200.

Another participating sponsor of the event is Rex’s Creole Kitchen located on the grounds of Vinovium. While you were free to enjoy lunch wherever you desired, it was hoped that you would choose to order from their menu with a discount.

At 10:30 a.m., we picked up our journey bag filled with information about the Hunt. We are very familiar with all of the locations, but we looked over the provided map just the same. We chose to head west first to the Stonewall locations since the east end wineries didn’t open until noon. We were the first visitors at Meierstone Vineyards and enjoyed a warm welcome from George. He came out and offered to take our picture in front of the antique tractor positioned in front.

We enjoyed a lovely tasting and answered the trivia question correctly. As the schedule allowed an hour at each place including driving time, we moved on up the road to Pedernales Cellars. It was noted in the promotional information that all of the locations were dog friendly, so we happily brought our rescue dog, a German Shepherd mix named Bert. We affectionately call him GeBERTztraminer. Several groups caught up with us during our tasting on the patio at Pedernales Cellars. We finished our tasting with the amazing Dre, answered their trivia question, took our picture, and moved on down the road the short distance to Adega Vinho. We planned our trip to enjoy the pizza truck located on Adega Vinho’s property for lunch. I will never turn down an opportunity to enjoy an amazing pizza!! The tasting room inside was abuzz with activity as people on the hunt, as well as regular visitors, enjoyed the amazing wines in very comfortable air conditioning. Bert took this opportunity to rest on the cool floor.

We finished our wine and pizza, answered the trivia question, and moved on to the far east end of the route where 12 FIRES Winery &  Vineyard is located. We found their cozy tasting room with wonderful groups of customers gathered around the bar and seated at small tables. We found a nice spot at the bar and had Bert lay down between us. We enjoyed our tasting, answered the trivia question correctly, and made our purchase of a couple of bottles of wine.

The next stop on our route was Vinovium. Luckily the crowd had dispersed prior to our arrival, and we were one of about three groups in the tasting room. However, once Nicole got us started, a tour van arrived, and a crowd of people poured into the tasting room. We were able to be patient, and the staff quickly and efficiently worked through all of their orders, and they stepped out on the beautiful wrap around deck to enjoy their wines.

Another sponsor of the Wine Hunt is the fine folks at Wrenwood Ranch. They are a lovely Bed and Breakfast located next door to Vinovium and conveniently within walking distance of this venue that is open late.

During our visits we heard great feedback from the wineries and attendees about how much fun everyone was having, and even from customers that wanted to know how they could get involved next time.

The ticket sales were kept at an intimate number so as not to overflow the smaller wineries, and I think they were very successful. They actually sold out pretty quickly this time, so if you’d like to participate in the next one in October, email [email protected] and they will message you as soon as tickets go on sale.