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Hill Country winery Wine for the People is going to be closing its tasting room in Austin this month. Its last day of service within Rosedale restaurant Spread & Co. at 1601 West 38th Street will be on Sunday, November 26.
Wine for the People founder, owner, and winemaker Rae Wilson is also going to be opening a permanent tasting room location out in Fredericksburg. It’ll be found at 113 East Park Street, taking over what had been Last Draw Cellars’s original location. Initially, the tasting room will operate as a pop-up in December, focusing on its Dandy Rosé and La Valentía wines, or as Wilson calls it, the House of Dandy and La Valentía. That’ll start on Friday, December 8 and run Fridays through Sundays for the rest of that month. And then the permanent hours will begin sometime in January 2024.
And also, Wilson is going to be looking for a different physical location for her winery in Austin in 2024, one that is permanent, as she shared on Instagram. She also says that the winery will host monthly pop-ups in the city in the meantime.
Finally, Wilson also revealed that the winery is partnering with Texas wine stalwarts William Chris Vineyards. Wine for the People had been producing its wines out of the Hye facility for the past couple of vintages already, and so William Chris is now investing in Wine for the People. This will help Wine for the People grow further and also explains the winery opening in Fredericksburg.
Wilson started Wine for the People with the goal of using Texas grapes in 2010, and produced the first bottle, Dandy Rosé, in 2014. The winery had shared a tasting room space with C.L. Butaud Wines in November 2020, but had left in November 2022.
That’s when Wine for the People partnered with Spread & Co. that same month. The tasting room operated during late afternoon and evening hours, while the restaurant was open during the morning and daytimes. Spread & Co. is staying open after Wine for the People leaves.
Opening a physical tasting room of her own has always been a dream of Wilson’s. She had launched a Kickstarter to that effect in 2019, but the pandemic interrupted those plans.
Update, November 21: This article, originally published on November 17, has been updated to include Wine for the People’s Fredericksburg address and to clarify the nature of the Fredericksburg location.
