Setting Down More Roots: Umbra Winery Keeps Growing

Everyone is welcome at Umbra, especially Walkens.

 UPDATE--
The plans laid out in this post never came to fruition. Please visit newer posts for up to date information on Umbra Winery.

A recent visit to Umbra Winery proved to be fruitful in a few different ways. We tried a fantastic new Cabernet Sauvignon. We found out that owner John Wilson is now the winemaker. And we found out that Umbra is expanding its footprint in Grapevine. Excitement is building, and rightly so, since Umbra has only been open several months.

John Wilson greeted us and said we had to try the soon to be released Roussanne. This lesser known white varietal has shown to be another great white wine that pairs well with Texas terroir. The fruit for this new Umbra wine is grown out in the Texas High Plains at Oswald Vineyards. I personally have been wanting to try it since John mentioned it last year, and it is very good. However the wine that caught my fancy was not this one, but the new Cabernet Sauvignon made by John Wilson himself.

Longtime CrossRoads and Umbra Winery winemaker John Otis recently left Umbra for new adventures out in the Pacific Northwest, leaving John Wilson with winemaking duties. So another hat that John Wilson now dons is that of winemaker. His first wine creation is a Cabernet Sauvignon blend of two vintages, plus a smidgen of Merlot for good measure. This vino shows that John picked up a thing or two over the years from Mr. Otis' winemaking prowess as it is fantastic. If you want a a good indicator of how good this wine is, my wife who is not a fan of red wines and makes a point of avoiding them, utterly loved this cab. Well done, John. Well done.

Picture wine-making materiel in this end of the room.

When Umbra opened its doors on Grapevine's busy Main Street last fall, the actual winemaking facility remained in Little Elm. Over the last week or so I caught wind of some future changes from an Umbra Instagram conversation. Even before I had a chance to ask John about the upcoming changes, he asked us to join him for a quick jaunt outside.

Picture fun wine related events in this side of the room.

John is still awaiting final approval from the city of Grapevine, but behind their Main Street location, is a building that he hopes that will not only house Umbra's wine making apparatus, but will also serve as Umbra's event center for wine club and other entertaining events.

In less than one year John and his wife Debbie have done more than settle into their Grapevine location, but have set themselves up for future success. Grapevine is North Texas' wine hub and Umbra Winery will be a big part of Grapevine's wine destination industry.

Coming Soon-- Umbra Winery Comes to Grapevine, Texas!

I had the privilege of helping serve wine at what will be another new winery opening this November in Grapevine, Texas. Umbra Winery is the Grapevine venture of CrossRoads Winery in Frisco and is down the street from the historic Wallis Hotel, the future Grapevine home of Texas wine heavyweight Messina Hof, and only a few doors down from D'Vine Winery on South Main Street in historic downtown Grapevine. The winery took advantage of the crowds at Grapevine's annual GrapeFest prior to their official opening to showcase their wine and their soon to be completed tasting room.

Umbra's location used to be a clothing boutique so remodeling has included pulling up the existing carpet and expose the original brick walls for November's grand opening. Most visitors loved the brick that winery owner John Wilson has worked very hard to expose. A good deal of the remaining walls are of the chalkboard variety which proved to be great advertising tools for GrapeFest weekend.

This chalkboard greets you as you walk in-- including social media hashtags!

The wine menu for GrapeFest tastings.

One of the remaining walls left untouched so far is a nice bright hue of lime green. It is a bold color and provides some interesting contrast with the black chalkboard walls. Though it is not part of the final design plan of the winery, one of the wine tasters found this lime-colored wall intriguing enough to come back and take a picture of it.

The bottle specials this weekend and part of that green wall.

Oh, and one cannot forget their great wine lineup. At the moment they are using wines from the CrossRoads label but Umbra will have its own label and will continue to use Texas fruit from the wine-making facilities at their Little Elm (Frisco) location. There are a couple new white wines scheduled to come out soon, including a Chardonnay that will be available after the grand opening, and a Roussanne that I'm really looking forward to taste in the spring.  
 

A wine for every taste- from sweet to bold and everything in between!

John, his wife Debbie, and winemaker John Otis (and us wine club members, too!) look forward to an early November opening with what should be a continuance of award winning wines in a new and historical location with Umbra Winery. So keep an eye out for Umbra Winery's grand opening and come visit their new tasting room and take home some wonderful wine!