winery wins

Popular Texas winemakers team up for new tasting room in Hill Country

Wine tasting, William Chris Wine Company

The Fredericksburg tasting room is Wine for the People's first Hill Country location.

Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

Two Texas winemakers are teaming up to open a new tasting room in Fredericksburg: Wine for the People and William Chris Wine Company will combine forces to open a joint tasting room in January 2024.

Located at 113 E. Park St., in a space previously occupied by Lost Draw Cellars, it marks their first location in the Hill Country.

The opening will be overseen by Wine for the People founder Rae Wilson and partner Anne Spalding. Wilson's Dandy Bubbles and La Valentína brands will also be integrated into WCWC's portfolio.

Wilson has been making wines for nearly a decade, and has previous experience as a sommelier and wine educator. She has a long history with the William Chris team, including the Texas-based product series the Grower Project, which she co-founded in 2015 with Andrew Sides, founder of WCWC's flagship brand, Lost Draw Cellars.

Los Draw is undergoing its own relocation to a new estate vineyard in Johnson City as of January 1.

"I couldn’t be happier to have Rae and Anne joining our team," said WCWC founder and CEO Chris Brundrett in a release. "As a fellow champion of the Texas wine industry, Rae has been a partner to us in many ways for a long time, so it feels incredibly natural to have Wine for the People become part of our family at William Chris."

The move to the Hill Country leaves behind Wine for the People's Austin tasting room, which is now closed, according to its website. Wilson expressed her excitement to embark in this new journey with WCWC in the release.

“I’ve worked with Chris and Andrew for years on sourcing fruit and making wine together, and this move presents an opportunity for our business to flourish and expand into the Hill Country to reach a new audience of Texas wine lovers," Wilson said.

Wine for the People will host preview tastings for its members and Lost Draw members in December leading up to the official opening. Reservations for full wine tasting experiences at the Fredericksburg location begin January 27, 2024, the website says.

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Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

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