CALAIS Winery
Benjamin Calais dug his winery into the side of a hill outside Hye, and both tastings happen down in the cave, four people at a time.21
Why go
Calais is French-born and started making wine in Dallas in 2008. He moved the operation to Hye, and the tasting room opened in 2015.21 He works Texas fruit only, and signed up to Texas Winegrowers and Wine Origins to say so on the label. The house style is a left-bank blend: cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, merlot.41 Paula Forbes started her Hill Country weekend here for Texas Monthly and put it on the twelve-name list she came home with.1 The same cellar makes the Rhone-style wines sold as French Connection. That label has its own room down the road.1
Order this / avoid
- Drink the left-bank blend, cabernet sauvignon with petit verdot and merlot. That is the wine Forbes was swirling when she wrote the place up, and the bottle in her glass retailed at $84.1
- The Cave Tasting runs $30 a head for an hour at the bar in the cellar, Wednesday to Sunday by appointment.2
- The Prestige Tasting, if you can get a Saturday: $65 for 90 minutes, six pours in three side-by-side pairs, reaching the library and allocated bottles.2
- Avoid: driving out with a group. Both tastings cap at four people.2
What locals & experts say
- Paula Forbes, Texas Monthly, September 2025:
you'll be handsomely rewarded with samplings of the excellent Bordeaux-style reds made by French-born winemaker Benjamin Calais.
On finding the place, she writes that a giant French flag in what looks like an empty field is one of the only signs you have arrived.1 - On the pledge, in the winery's own words: it makes wines
solely from Texas grapes
and backs clear origin labeling through Texas Winegrowers and Wine Origins.4
Good to know
- Appointment only for both tastings, four people maximum on each, Wednesday to Sunday. Wine dinners run a few times a year and go out on the mailing list first.2
- Finding it: 8115 US-290 in Hye, about 24 miles east of Fredericksburg. Watch for the flag and not the signage, and expect to miss the turn once among the peach stands.1
- The other label: French Connection Wines is the same winemaker's Rhone project, with its own tasting room in Hye.1
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "A top red producer."
Verdict
should-visit — Book the cave, because four seats a session is the whole capacity. Take the Prestige if your Saturday allows it; six pours in pairs is how you learn a house style, and one flight of singles teaches you nothing. Do this one first on a Hill Country day and drive to the peach stands after, since an hour underground in the morning ruins nothing that follows. Skip it if you want a lawn, a band and a cheese board.