Wine news
Black-owned winery from Houston uncorks new tasting room in Dallas
A wine bar from Houston is coming to Dallas: Called Pur Noire, it's a winery and tasting room and will open at 2336 Victory Park Ln. in the former Burgundy Swine space.
According to owners Carissa and Kenneth Stephens, it'll open in early summer.
It's a spinoff of a concept the couple debuted in 2021 in Houston, where they earned the distinction of becoming the city's first Black-owned winery.
They were inspired after a trip to Europe where they delved into wine and eventually became certified wine sommeliers. But they were disheartened by the lack of other sommeliers in the industry that looked like them.
“It was a call to action for us to become a part of that representation that we desperately wanted to see,” Carissa says.
Across the U.S., only 1 percent of wineries are Black-owned, according to the Association of African American Vintners.
In Dallas, they'll join a small group of wine businesses owned by Black entrepreneurs that include Distinctive Vines Wine Lounge in Dallas’ Cedars District, Edge of the Lake Vineyard and Winery in Valley View, and Berkshire Farms Winery in Ferris.
Pur Noire - French for “pure black” - is both a winery and tasting room, and also has a wine club subscription service in which members receive at least 12 bottles of wine per year. There’s no fee to join, but there are a limited number of members allowed per year, according to the company website.
They noted that, outside of Houston, the wine club’s biggest customer base has been in Dallas, and that motivated their expansion.
Their Pur Noire label selection features an assortment of reds, whites, and rosés, produced and bottled in California, sourced from three vineyards: Broken Rock Vineyard, Morgan Lee Vineyard, and Herringer Estates.
Prices range from $45 for a 2021 Chardonnay to $64 for a 2013 Reserve Merlot.
The Dallas location will resemble the original in Houston, with a winery and tasting room, plus an outdoor patio, with a total footprint of nearly 2,000 square feet.
In addition to selling and shipping wine, Pur Noire focuses on educating customers about wine and guiding them to the right bottle. They strive for an atmosphere that's welcoming to professional sommeliers and wine newbies.
“We made the decision to also be in the hospitality business, not just to produce wine,” Carissa says.
The key to wine hospitality, for the Stephens, is to eliminate the intimidation and pretentiousness often shrouding the wine industry. They want people of color especially to feel accepted in a sphere that’s been predominantly white.
“For people of color, our representation in wine has been virtually nonexistent,” Carissa says. “Maybe because we weren’t represented in the industry as much, it felt like wine wasn’t for us. We’re here to say, ‘No, this is for everyone.’”
And they do mean everyone.
“Pur Noire is Black-owned, but we always say we’re not ‘Black-only,’” Kenneth says. “Our customer base is wine lovers, people who have a passion for really good wine.”