PLATES
72 texashighways.com Photos: Eric W. Pohl
On Cloud Wine
Cabernet Grill pushes boundaries with its all-Texas wine list
By John LumpkinCABERNET GRILL
2805 S. State
Highway 16,
Fredericksburg.
830-990-5734;
cabernetgrill.comA
sign above the door
to Cabernet Grill in
Fredericksburg tells patrons
what they need to know
about the restaurant: “Texas Wine
Spoken Here.” Fluently, in fact. Cabernet
Grill has landed on Wine Enthusiast’s
“America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants”
two years in a row with an all-Texas
wine list—a feat even the most Texas-
centric restaurants haven’t achieved.
“I can tell you that back in 2005 when
I decided to do the all-Texas wine list, I
had people literally get in my face and tell
me, ‘You are crazy,’” owner and chef Ross
Burtwell says. Cabernet Grill’s criteria for
selecting wines are that the winery must
be Texas-based and have in-state produc-
tion, if not made with only Texas grapes.
“Unfortunately, Texas does not harvest
enough of its own grapes each year to
keep up with the demand of the industry,
so many wineries must supplement with
non-Texas fruit,” Burtwell notes.
In the 1980s and ’90s, Texas wines had
a reputation for not being as sophisti-
cated as wine from regions like Napa and
Sonoma, in California, and Willamette,
in Oregon. But Burtwell changed that in
2002 when he bought Cotton Gin Village,
a restaurant with adjacent cabins, and re-
named it in homage to the proliferation of
Hill Country vineyards. He introduced his
“Texas Hill Country cuisine,” with an em-
phasis on Texas-sourced ingredients.
Today, Cabernet Grill’s kitchen is a fam-
ily affair. Burtwell’s sous chefs are his
wife, Marianna, whom Burtwell met in
1989 while working in a San Antonio hotel
kitchen, and son, Hunter, who started roll-
ing silverware for diners at age 8 and sub-
sequently trained at Austin’s Auguste Es-
coffier School of Culinary Arts.