Lake Highlands has its own winery with Waters Edge

There’s a new winery bottling varietals in our neighborhood.

While there may not be any vineyards in Lake Highlands, there’s a new winery on Abrams Road.

Waters Edge Winery and Bistro of Dallas opened in March in the former Fireside Pies space offering an array of varietals sourced from around the world. The premise is simple: a franchise concept which outsources its viticulture (the cultivation and harvesting of grapes) to vineyards in California, Spain, France and Italy before vinting and bottling at one of its 15 U.S. locations.

Franchise owner and M Streets resident Kate Vahdani grew up in her family’s St. Louis Irish pub before making a career in IT. With her background in hospitality and an interest in winemaking, she researched the Waters Edge Wineries concept and decided it was “super interesting.”

“I think some of the biggest downfalls of wineries are the ability for them to grow their own grapes,” Vahdani says. “So growing your own grapes. You have a bad year, right? Or something goes wrong, and it can kind of crater you. So the ability to grow your own grapes was something that I felt like was a pretty big risk. So that model was really interesting to me. And then the idea of just more of a winery in the city, right? I mean, how many of us have driven to wineries out in Fredericksburg.”

A location close to home was important for Vahdani and now-director of operations Alec Kemp, who lives in Lake Highlands. She says the location appealed to her for its plentiful parking, and she was undeterred by the space’s high turnover.

Across the parking lot, near ZAAP Kitchen, Vahdani has also leased a two-story unit for vinting and special events. This is where the magic will happen. Grapes will ferment in large vats in the facility before eventual bottling. The business currently sells wines bottled at other Waters Edge Wineries locations but will begin rolling out the first bottles of Lake Highlands wine sometime in June.

“The Sangiovese seems to be something that people are loving,” she says. “The problem, I think, is going to be that that has to age. So we’ll make that to start, but we have a couple whites that we think we’re going to be able to roll out pretty quickly.”

Currently, Waters Edge Winery and Bistro in Lake Highlands offers 14 wine selections ranging from rosés to temparrillos. Vahdani says she is especially excited to begin offering varietals from Armenia, as it is one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world and has seen a resurgence on the international stage in the years following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

It’s no secret people have their preferences when it comes to wine. While there are plenty of go-to options available, front of house manager and head winemaker Andy Gonzales says he wants the concept to be a platform for exploration.

“My goal, and with their support, has been to educate the consumer because they’re going to enjoy more wine than they would ever have enjoyed it before,” Gonzalez says. “Every person that I’ve sat with and talked to that goes, ‘Oh, I don’t like this or that.’ And I say, ‘Okay, let’s see.’ And then I’ll give them, for example, a Chardonnay. And our Chardonnays are really, really good. They go, ‘I can’t believe the Chardonnay, I’ll have a glass, or I’ll buy a bottle.’ It’s been fascinating to watch people turn on a dime because they don’t have an experience.”

In addition to a succinct tap list of domestic and Texan beers, the winery will also bring in low-proof, non-distilled forms of vodka and whiskey for cocktails.

“We found a small partner in South Texas that does a fermented spirit, as opposed to a distilled spirit,” Vahdani says. “So we’ll be able to offer some of those, though not going to be a huge part of what we do, but if you want to come in and get a martini before your dinner, you’ll be able to do that. The vodka is like a 17% vodka, so it aligns with our license, but we’ll have a martini, margarita, an old fashioned, gin and tonics.”

While it is a franchise concept, the winery’s bistro menu was largely developed to be as location-specific as possible by Executive Chef Jace Leggitt. The menu offered at the Dallas location is more robust than ones found at other franchises.

“We have much more of a restaurant than the average Waters Edge facility. So they had a lot of very nice offerings at a lot of their places,” Kemp says. “But we again wanted to take it from that to taking it to 11 for the guest experience. So the entree options are ours. That stuff that Jace is coming up with, we’ve used some of their stuff as well, but made our improvements on it so that Jace would play with the flavors, with our providers here.”

Options like asparagus risotto in cream ($21), grilled tuna ($31) and falafel served with couscous, fresh tzatziki and spring mix vegetables ($24) offer plenty for non-meat eaters. For protein-forward fare, look to the 24-hour honey-brined pork chop ($42) or airline chicken breast served with sauteed vegetables and angel hair pasta ($31). Each entree option comes with a suggested wine pairing.

The winery also boasts an array of flatbreads cooked in the preexisting Fireside Pies oven, in addition to a customizable lineup of meat and cheese boards. Shared plates include baked brie ($18), fondue ($12) and staff-favorite Alec’s FunGuys ($14).

“I think all of us have actually added a little bit of ourselves to the menu too, to make it more of ours,” Kemp says. “There’s stuffed mushrooms on the menu. That’s mine.”

Six wine club membership levels, which give members access to exclusive events, discounts, complimentary tastings and bottles, are available. Members of the founder’s club receive a custom wine glass and will get first access when the winery bottles its first varietals this summer.

Kemp says that he and Vahdani are looking forward to engaging with the community and will utilize neighbor feedback to refine its offerings. The franchise also has the independence to partner with Texas vineyards going forward, and Kemp says they are looking to bring in grapes from High Plains vineyards.

Next month, neighbors will raise a glass of the first wine commercially bottled in Lake Highlands. And to that, we say cheers.

Waters Edge Winery and Bistro of Dallas, 6750 Abrams Road, 214.238.7800, wew.wine/dallas