Winery, wine bar coming to Fort Worth
Times Ten Cellars, a Dallas-based winery that in November will introduce its first vintage from grapes grown at its vineyard in far West Texas, has bought a building near the burgeoning urban developments along the West Seventh Street corridor to expand production and open a wine bar.
The building, 1100 Foch St., is a few blocks south of West Seventh Street, where major mixed-used developments — Museum Place, So7, West 7th and Montgomery Plaza — are already bringing hundreds of new residents, shoppers and workers to the area.
"We’re hoping that is a plus to us," said Kert Platner, one of the three founding partners of Times Ten Cellars. "We want the winery to be a place for people to go."
The company bought the 22,000-square-foot building from Elizabeth Falconer, who has operated her interior design business, Position by Design, there for the past six years. Tom Struhs, her husband, also has his offices, Struhs Development, in the building. The couple is developing Trinity Bluff on the north end of downtown.
The building dates to before the historic 1949 flood, but it has been added on to over the years. It is across the street from several industrial buildings that in the past few years have been transformed into restaurants, shops and a yoga studio.
"It’s right in the heart of the action," said Rodger Chieffalo, principal of Chieffalo Realty, who negotiated the sale. "It will be right in the heart of all the urban living."
Wine bar and tasting room
Times Ten’s Dallas winery opened in August 2005 in an historic post office building at 6324 Prospect Ave. in Dallas’ Lakewood area. The company bought that 5,000-square-foot building and remodeled it for production, a wine bar and tasting room, and an events facility.
The winery, also owned by Chris Lawler and Rob Wilson, produces about 120,000 bottles annually in Dallas, but that will more than double when the Fort Worth location comes online, hopefully in August 2009, Platner said.
Times Ten has been buying grapes from about a dozen California vineyards to produce its current line of six red and five white wines. The wines are distributed to about 40 restaurants in Dallas, and are now available in Fort Worth at Lambert’s and the newly opened Wet Willie’s in the Woodhaven neighborhood.
In 2004, Times Ten bought 100 acres of land 18 miles south of Alpine, but because of the expense, only planted vines on 8 acres to test their wines. It had its first harvest two years ago and the wine made from that crop will be released in November, Platner said.
Called Cathedral Mountain Vineyard, it is 5,000 feet above sea level and the grapes are growing in mineral-rich, volcanic soil, he said.
What’s coming here
When remodeled, the Fort Worth location will be similar to the Dallas winery, in that it will have production, a wine bar, tasting rooms and event space, but it will also provide much needed warehouse space, Platner said.
When they designed their Dallas location, Platner said, "We didn’t envision how much space it would take to store the wine."
Times Ten Cellars will use about 8,000 square feet and lease the remaining 14,000 square feet to ancillary businesses, such as a caterer for their events, Platner said.
The company will also begin distributing its wines in Houston, Austin and San Antonio.