Wine in Bloom

Get tastings at 46 Hill Country wineries with spring 2025 passport

Wildseed Farms Vineyeard specifically ties together the two pleasures of wine and wildflowers.

A chance to see wildflowers blanketing the Hill Country landscape is reason enough to drive out in the spring, but a wine passport gives nearly 50 reasons to extend the trip. Wineries across the region are joining together to offer free tastings and discounts via the Wine & Wildflower Journey Passport from March 24 to April 18.

The purpose of the passport program — which is repeated throughout the year for different occasions like Texas Wine Month and Christmas — is to encourage visitors to split their time between numerous vineyards and come back for more. It covers a complimentary tasting at each venue for up to four visits a day; then it tacks on a 15 percent discount on purchases of at least three bottles.

This particular passport is timed perfectly for catching wildflowers. It does not offer any additional information about which spots will have the most flowers (they are, after all, wild), but they'll be hard to miss as visitors drive through the area.

The passport is organized by Texas Hill Country Wineries, a nonprofit trade association that helps its member vineyards by promoting them and creating easy itineraries. It offers visitors resources like an interactive wine map to narrow down venues according to their needs.

It also provides scholarships within the wine industry, and $5 from each passport sold will go toward helping Texas students get degrees in viticulture, enology, or hospitality.

Tickets are available for $65 per person or $100 per couple. The release calculates that the passport starts representing savings on tastings after five visits.

Participating wineries are as follows (with asterisks indicated required reservations):

Airis'Ele Vineyards*
Arch Ray Winery
Becker Vineyards
Bell Springs Winery
Bending Branch Winery
Bingham Family Vineyards
Blue Lotus Winery
Carter Creek Winery
Driftwood Estate Winery*Dry Comal Creek Vineyards*
Farmhouse Vineyards
Fiesta Winery at Bend
Fiesta Winery at Arch Ray
Flat Creek Estate*
Grape Creek Vineyards
Grape Creek / Heath Family Brands on Main
Hawk's Shadow Winery
Heath Sparkling Wine
Hilmy Cellars
Hye Meadow Winery
Invention Vineyards
Inwood Estates*
Kerrville Hills Winery
Kuhlman Cellars
Limestone Terrace
Longhorn Cellars*
Lost Draw*
Messina Hof Hill Country Winery
Pedernales Cellars*
Pontotoc Vineyard Picnic Table
Portree Cellars*
Ron Yates
Silver Dollar Hill Country
Sister Creek Vineyards
Spicewood Vineyards
Texas Heritage Vineyard
Texas Hills Vineyard
Texas Wine Collective
Torr Na Lochs Vineyard & Winery
Turtle Creek Vineyard *
Wedding Oak Winery San Saba*
Wedding Oak Winery Burnet*
Wedding Oak Winery Fredericksburg*
Westcave Cellars Winery
Wildseed Vineyards*
William Chris Vineyards*

wine wildflowers

cut the travel time

Ladybird Jet air shuttle launches flights from Houston to Fredericksburg

Photo courtesy of Ladybird Jet

Hop on board from Houston to the Hill Country.

Houstonians now have a new way to travel to the Hill Country without spending hours in the car. Regional air shuttle service Ladybird Jet has launched a new route connecting passengers from Houston to Fredericksburg.

Texas-born Ladybird Jet is a membership-based charter flight broker providing a fleet of semi-private flights addressing "a growing gap in regional executive travel across Texas," per a release. Rather than spending hours in traffic traveling hundreds of miles by car, Ladybird Jet promises short flights without arduous security lines or baggage claim delays.

"Executives in Texas are losing half their day just getting to a meeting," said founder Devon Perry. "I built Ladybird Jet because I saw firsthand how broken regional travel was — and I knew Texas deserved better than choosing between a six-hour drive and a commercial airline odyssey."

The new Houston-to-Fredericksburg route operates out of West Houston Airport (IWS) and flies into Gillespie County Airport (T82). The flight cuts down an approximate nine-hour round trip down to just "a short flight," according to Perry, and passengers only need to arrive 15 minutes before departure.

Ladybird Jet semi-private charter plane Houstonians can travel to the Hill Country in style via Ladybird Jet's eight-seat aircraft. Photo courtesy of Ladybird Jet

"Houston professionals love Fredericksburg — the wine, the food, the Hill Country," Perry said. "But a nine-hour round-trip drive turns a relaxing getaway into an endurance test. We eliminate that. You land, and your weekend starts immediately."

Flights departing Houston will operate on Thursdays at 5 pm, and returning flights will take place on Sundays at 6 pm. That allows plenty of time to explore the Hill Country's wineries, restaurants, hotels, and the relaxing scenery. The planes can accommodate eight passengers, and round-trip fare costs $1,697 per seat.

Ladybird Jet also operates a route from Fredericksburg to Dallas, if ritzy Houstonians want to save time and travel luxuriously throughout all three cities.

Flight memberships start at $500 a month, with three different tiers available depending on travel needs.

Wine in Bloom

Get tastings at 46 Hill Country wineries with spring 2025 passport

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cut the travel time

Ladybird Jet air shuttle launches flights from Houston to Fredericksburg