“When it comes to pairing the food and wine, the staff really knows their stuff.”
— Julie & Steve Hadley - Lubbock, TX

Wine Director

Elizabeth Rodriguez
The tag line from one of our advertisements that brings customers in the door reads “Foodies and Oenophiles Rejoice!” Fortunately having our own resident wine expert on staff allows us to live up to that promise.  Meet Elizabeth Rodriguez, Cabernet Grill’s Wine Director, whose extraordinary passion for wine exploration and pairing provides our patrons with the opportunity to experience a delicious harmony of culinary senses for an unparalleled fine dining experience in Fredericksburg, TX.

A Life of Wine
Elizabeth has been part of the restaurant business for over 18 years, (10 at Cabernet Grill) right in the Texas Hill Country, the epicenter of “Texas Wine Country.” So of course, she has had her nose in the exploding Texas wine industry since its infancy—making her uniquely qualified to perfectly craft Cabernet Grill’s wine experience.
But her expertise does not stop at the county line. Known for her exceptional palate and masterful ability to pair food and wine, she has developed strong relationships with wine makers from across the state as well as grape growers from the Texas Hill Country through the High Plains.

She enjoys visiting with winemakers and exploring the subtle differences from a particular grape varietal, oftentimes grown in the same field but using a multitude of wine-making techniques. Using her honed skills to find these variances, she maintains an extensive 1200-bottle wine inventory for the Cabernet Grill that allows our patrons to experience similar wines that are actually worlds apart in taste and perception.

Training and Tutelage
She has passed her first level sommelier examination with the Court of Master Sommeliers and is working towards her next level certification. She has traveled to Napa Valley to study “Mastering Wine” with nationally recognized wine expert, journalist and author Karen MacNiel at the Culinary Institute of American Greystone campus and attends the Tex-Som Wine Conference in Las Colinas annually.

Our professional staff follow her lead. She conducts weekly staff training classes including blind tastings, aroma workshops, Texas vs. world wines, line tastings, winery field trips, in house-meet the winemaker sessions and food & wine pairing sessions.
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Although Elizabeth has been in Fredericksburg since her teen years, she is a native of San Miquel de Allende, a charming town in Mexico very much like Fredericksburg with lots of great dining, arts and boutique bed & breakfast style lodging.