Blake’s home,
where wine & wildlife intertwine.

Reserve a rhino experience Plan a visit

Blake.The inspiration behind the label.

Meet Blake, our southern white rhinoceros. At more than 4,500 pounds, he makes an unforgettable first impression. Stay a little longer, and you’ll discover his calm nature, favorite scratching spots, and love of a good mud wallow.

Born at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas, on August 14, 2018, Blake arrived at Rhinory on March 5, 2022, following three and a half years of planning, habitat construction, and permitting. Today, three dedicated keepers oversee his daily care, enrichment, and voluntary training, including regular foot care.

Blake’s habitat offers spacious pastures and opportunities for guests to observe him while enjoying a glass of wine. Whether he’s grazing or relaxing in the mud, he helps visitors build a personal connection with rhinos, and a deeper understanding of why protecting them matters.

Come get to know Blake. Your visit supports his care and Rhinory’s conservation partners working to protect rhinos in the wild.

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Blake walking toward the camera through a cloud of dust, backlit by late sun

A conservation winerybuilt around a rhino.

The only rhino conservation winery where a glass of Texas wine and a living rhino share the same horizon.

The land runs down to the Pedernales River, crossed by a meandering creek and shaded by ancient oaks, and it’s home to plenty of Hill Country wildlife besides Blake. It was shaped from the ground up around both the people who visit and the rhino who lives here: viewing paths, a savannah patio for our award-winning wines, a watering hole, a mud wallow. Every vantage point is a front-row seat to his day, from leisurely grazing to the occasional playful charge.

The preserve exists because in 2016, founders Craig Stevens and Chesney Castleberry witnessed the heartbreaking aftermath of a local rhino poaching incident in South Africa and came home with a question: what if a winery could fund the front line? Today, the preserve is the answer, a survival and breeding program in Fredericksburg, with the wine list, the membership, and the architecture designed around Blake.

Blake walking head-on across the dry pasture in afternoon light
  1. 2016

    The catalyst

    On a trip to South Africa, Craig and Chesney witness two rhinos lost to poaching.

  2. 2018

    Ground broken

    55 acres acquired east of Fredericksburg on US 290, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail.

  3. Mar 2022

    Blake arrives

    Once three and a half years of USDA permitting clear, a young Southern White moves in from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. Christine Bobko leaves the Denver Zoo to lead our rhino program, and has cared for him since his first day here.

  4. Jun 2022

    Tasting room opens

    The doors open. Texas and South African wines pour side by side for the first time.

  5. 2025

    The Foundation launches

    Rhinory Foundation incorporates as a 501(c)(3).

  6. 2026

    The giving grows

    Rhinory has raised over $1.5 million for rhino conservation, here at Rhinory and worldwide. Since 2025, the Rhinory Foundation has raised over $250,000, and our 2026 Gala alone raised over $100,000 for our three conservation partners.

  7. Next

    The preserve grows

    Additional rhinos joining the program. Breeding-program work in partnership with global conservation organizations.

Three keepers.Decades of rhino experience.

They know his moods, which log he scratches on first, and how long he’ll stand still for his monthly pedicure. Every day of Blake’s life here runs through these three.

Christine Bobko kneeling in Blake's barn, smiling, with Blake behind her

Christine Bobko

Rhino Program Director

  • Keeper since 1988
  • President · International Rhino Keeper Association
  • $250K+ raised in keeper-led fundraisers over her career · Africa + Indonesia field work
Meet Christine

Christine Bobko, our Rhino Program Director, started her career and passion for rhinos at the San Antonio Zoo. She then headed to the Denver Zoo where she spent the next 32 years working with Black and Greater One-Horned Rhinos. Over the course of her career, she has worked with many species from Koalas to Asian Elephants, but rhinos were always her passion. In 2022, she retired from the Denver Zoo when the owners of Rhinory offered her the opportunity to grow and develop several programs including breeding, conservation, and guest engagement. Her retirement would now be wine and rhinos!

Another key passion for Chris is rhino conservation. Her work has taken her to Africa several times and Indonesia for two of the rarest species: Sumatran and Javan rhinos. Over her career, she has developed and directed multiple successful keeper-led fundraisers that have raised over $250,000. As a founding board member and President of the International Rhino Keeper Association she is currently Chair for fundraising and has served several key roles including development of two bi-annual workshops.

Kristen Rockey standing in Blake's barn with one hand on Blake

Kristen Rockey

Rhino Keeper

  • Keeper since 2014
  • With Blake since arrival · IRKA member
  • Education & outreach lead
Meet Kristen

Kristen grew up in Sayreville, N.J. where she enjoyed visiting the beach and local zoos. She has worked in the zoo industry since 2014 and has experience working with many different species. Some of her favorites are big cats and birds. Kristen has been with Rhinory since Blake arrived, and when she met him, it was love at first sight.

Kristen has a strong educational background and has presented with a variety of animals. While living in Utah, she visited many schools teaching about the environment and animals. She believes that education can help with the conservation of species.

She is also a member of the International Rhino Keeper Association. In 2025 she traveled to South Africa for field work, and one day she hopes to volunteer with orphaned rhinos.

Mary Fields kneeling beside Blake in his barn as he eats hay

Mary Fields

Rhino Keeper

  • Keeper since 2014
  • 10th Southern White Rhino · IRKA member
  • Enrichment & positive-reinforcement training
Meet Mary

Mary is originally from Houston and has been a keeper since 2014, with rhinos being the species she’s worked with the longest. Her love for rhinos all stemmed from her first internship in 2011 with three Southern White Rhinos at the Houston Zoo. Blake is now Mary’s 10th Southern White Rhino that she has worked with.

Conservation is one of Mary’s passions. She has held several special events to help different species throughout her career and traveled to learn about conservation. She has also focused on animal behavior, including training with positive reinforcement, and building new enrichment, like Blake’s log chimes that he likes to scratch on!

Like Kristen, she is a member of the International Rhino Keeper Association. She traveled to South Africa, where she spent two weeks volunteering with Zululand Rhino Orphanage.

Blake trotting across the pasture at speed, dust at his feet
“Rhinos are nimble, quick on their feet, and faster than an elephant, up to 30 mph.”
Field note · Christine Bobko, Rhino Program Director

Rhinos, up close.Facts from the fence.

  • Size and growth

    White rhinos and the equally large greater one-horned rhinos are the second-largest land mammals, after elephants. A male white rhino can reach 6,000 lb; females typically weigh 4,200 to 4,500 lb.

  • Northern and southern

    White rhinos come in two subspecies, southern and northern. Poaching has left the northern white functionally extinct: as of 2026 only two females remain, both non-reproductive, guarded around the clock by armed rangers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

  • Not actually white

    The name has nothing to do with colour. Most rhinos are grey-brown, and Sumatran rhinos are reddish-brown. A popular story traces “white” to the Dutch word wijd, for wide, misheard by English settlers, though historians still debate it.

  • Wide lips

    A white rhino’s lips are broad, square and powerful, built to crop grass close. That makes them strict grazers, living on the grasses of Africa’s savannas and grasslands.

  • Titan toes

    Rhinos are toe-walkers, odd-toed ungulates in the order Perissodactyla. Each foot ends on three toes, and the pad underneath works as a shock absorber, spreading all that weight evenly.

  • Blind as a rhino

    Almost everything about a rhino is supersized except its eyesight. Past about 100 yards the world is a blur, which earns them an unfair reputation for temper: hear or smell a threat, and a rhino charges first and asks questions later.

  • Think thick

    Rhinos are pachyderms, “thick-skinned” animals, like elephants, hippos and tapirs. Their hide runs an inch to an inch and a half thick. They can’t sweat, so mud does the work: it cools them, keeps bugs off and acts as sunscreen.

  • The horn

    The horn is what makes a rhino a rhino. It isn’t bone but keratin, the same stuff as our hair and nails, and it grows for life. White, black and Sumatran rhinos have two horns; greater one-horned and Javan rhinos have one. Calves are born with a small bump that starts growing into a horn at three to four months.

  • Slow to grow up

    Gestation runs a long 16 months. Calves weigh 120 to 140 lb at birth, gain 2 to 3 lb a day on their mother’s milk and stay with her for two to three years. Females mature at five to seven years, males at seven to eight.

Two members toasting with red wine at a Member Bash at Rhinory

Join the Conservation Circle.

Members get behind-the-scenes rhino access, complimentary or discounted Rhino Experiences, and member events.

  • Enthusiast Behind-the-scenes rhino access 25% off every Rhino Experience Member events
  • Advocate Up to 2 complimentary Rhino Experiences a year 25% off additional Rhino Experiences Member events
  • Collector Up to 4 complimentary Rhino Experiences a year 25% off additional Rhino Experiences VIP member events
Choose your tier

What it’s like tomeet Blake.

What a fun experience! We did the Reserve wine tasting and the wines were lovely! We got to see Blake the Rhino and the keeper spent time answering questions.
Google review · 5★
My husband got us the Pinnacle experience as a birthday gift for me and I loved every minute of it! Highly recommend, 10/10!!
Google review · 5★
Beautiful space, lots of new knowledge about rhino conservation, and incredible wine. What more could you ask for?
Google review · 5★

Come explore with us,where wine and conservation meet.

Reserve a rhino experience Reserve a tasting