Texas Winery C.L. Butaud Opens Inviting Austin Tasting Room
Award-winning Texas winery has moved their intimate, unpretentious tasting room to the heart of South Austin in the St. Elmo District
Many Austinites love drinking Texas wine, and while visiting Texas Hill Country Wineries is an absolute delight, sometimes we crave an experience closer to home, where we can hop in a rideshare on a whim and go.
Tasting Room Mood
This tasting room delivers everything our hearts could desire, with excellent wines, loads of fun, wine-centric events, and a wonderful food truck out front, Muy Yum ATX. C.L. Butaud’s tasting room is open from Thursday through Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. Go for a tasting and stay for a glass of your favorite new wine, or grab a bottle to take home.
C.L. Butaud’s gregarious founders, Randy and Brooke Hester just get it, and they had been eyeing spaces in Austin for a while before landing in the St. Elmo District. Their new digs are in a 1,200 sq. ft. space that’s airy and industrial, much like most spaces in the area. Yet they’ve decorated with homey touches like dried flower arrangements on every table to enhance the welcoming vibes.
While quite serious about the actual art and science of making wine, Randy brings an endearing, youthful glee and sense of fun to the venture, too. Their enthusiasm is contagious. It’s wise to book a tasting before you go.
All About That Grape
Randy Hester makes the wine at C.L. Butaud, named after his great grandfather, Clet Louis Butaud, who was known as “Frenchy”. Fans of the winery will also recognize the name. Their most affordable line of wine bears the nickname, Pa Pa Frenchy, and his likeness is delightfully depicted on the label, created by artist DeerDana.
Their wines are being recognized in the field: the 2017 Tempranillo received a 91-point score by decanter, and their 2019 Desert Willow Mourvedre was named one of VinePair’s Top 50 Wines of 2021. Among their premium wines are these award-winning and other Southern European style reds, a unique Pinot Gris Ramato, and a stellar, classic Blanc de Noir.
Of course, joining the wine club is the best way to taste as many of the C.L. Butaud wines as you wish. Wine Club members always get access to the best, limited-run, or library wines, lively release parties, plus early notice about events, exclusive access to some special parties, discounts on wine, and other great perks.
C.L. Butaud Origin Story: The Long Game
Brooke and Randy are both native Texans. They put in their time and did the work, studying and researching winemaking in the Napa wine industry for eleven years before branching out in 2017 with their own winery back home in Texas. Randy honed his winemaking expertise working with and learning from some of Napa’s renowned boutique winemakers, while Brooke got a taste for the wine and beverage industries through working as CFO at Patz & Hall and Director of Finance, U.S. Operations at Naked Wines.
Brooke brings extensive knowledge of the more business side of the winery (when she’s not busy at her day job as Director of Finance for Garrison Brothers Distillery). Brooke is a member of the Austin chapter of Les Dames d’ Escoffier, a philanthropic organization of women leaders in the food, beverage and hospitality industries, and she volunteers with the Wine & Food Foundation.
Together, they have won the loyalty of wine-drinking Texans, making wines with 100% high-quality Texas grapes. Randy mixes it up with a combination of tried and true, traditional winemaking methods while also tapping into his “mad genius” side, always relying on his instinct.
At a recent Wine & Food Foundation Imbibe class and tasting with Neighborhood Vintner, Randy reminded everyone that C.L. Butaud is all about quality wine, made well, with excellent Texas grapes, served without pretension, definitely not a pinkies-up type of winery. Their events calendar is intriguing — bringing in Zee’s Wiener System pop-up to pair hot dogs with wine is just one example.
C.L. Butaud Wine Pairs With…
We are also excited about Muy Yum ATX, the food truck outside of the C.L. Butaud tasting room. Muy Yum combines Spanish-inspired charcuterie bites, boards, bowls, sandwiches, and salads that include Texas-sourced ingredients such as Jamon Iberico and Texas chorizo from Texas Iberico.
Learn more at clbutaud.com.