The owners of Resign Wine in Westlake, Texas thought outside the tasting room when coming up with a format for a venue to make it easy for customers to try their products.
This May, just west of Austin, Leo and Tiffany Resig are opening Neighborhood Vintner — a wine bar that will offer 1,000 wines by the bottle for sale as well as a curated selection of wines available by the glass to enjoy on the premises.
Those wines will include the Resign Wine line, the Resigs’ own brand, which includes eight varietals made from organically grown grapes in Central and Northern California.
“With Neighborhood Vintner, this will be the first on-premise tasting experience for Resign Wine’s portfolio of wines,” Tiffany Resig said. “Initially, we were looking to open a tasting room specifically for Resign Wine, but we have seen such a void in the retail and wine bar experiences in West Austin, thus Neighborhood Vintner spread its wings and we decided to create a retail wine shop/wine bar greater than just Resign Wine.
“Resign will have a permanent space on our retail and by the glass menu, but Neighborhood Vintner will feature the vast world of wine including hundreds to thousands of wines available for retail purchase, and 20-25 wines available by the glass.”
Guests will be greeted by a team of professional Sommeliers, helmed by Advanced Sommelier and General Manager Paul Ozbirn and Certified Sommelier and Assistant General Manager Krista Church.
The Resigs said the shop also caters to those interested in learning more about wine — something the Resigs recently did themselves.
“A few years ago, for her birthday, I gifted Tiffany an educational course in wine to sit for the Level 1 Sommelier exam through the Court of Master Sommeliers,” Leo Resig said. “I basically gave her a test with a lot of studying so she made me do it with her. It was one of the best experiences we’ve ever gone through as a couple, and we want to open our doors to everyone who wants to dive a bit deeper and learn more about wine. Neighborhood Vintner will be the space to taste and buy wine, but it will also serve as a classroom for the wine curious to further their knowledge in the never-ending world of wine education.”
Tiffany acknowledged it was challenging to ramp up a wine bar while also producing wine, but said she was “finding enough time in the day to juggle all the plates.”
“So yes, this has been a process and a lot of work, but I constantly remind myself to find joy in it all,” she said. “And I have loved diving back into my own wine education — that’s the best part of opening a wine shop.
“Our biggest challenge has been the build-out. Although Neighborhood Vintner is a small space in square footage, our build-out has been extensive as we have completely transformed the space. I am so eager to open our doors and showcase this elevated environment for the community to shop, taste, and learn about wine!”
Resig Wine will have a permanent place at the new bar as the “artist in residence.”
“ We’re calling Resign Wine the “Artist in Residence” as a playful phrase based upon the eye-catching artwork that graces all our Resign labels,” Tiffany said. “This will be the first time for us to showcase our own wines in a DTC tasting experience and we are thrilled to put Resign out there! Additionally, we will look to grow our Wine Club for Resign Wine offering perks that tie into offerings at Neighborhood Vintner.
“That said, we are excited to introduce our customers to a wide range of wines – not just the Resign brand. And with our talented team of Sommeliers, we intend to do just that. As our general manager Paul has said, ‘Every person is a different puzzle and with all the wines in the shop, I get to play matchmaker to fit the right wines to the right person.’ At Neighborhood Vintner we will of course cater to our customer’s favorite producers and varietals, but also hope to encourage folks to try new wines and perhaps fall in love with a brand or grape that they would not have otherwise tried.”
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