While Eric and Kris LaBrie first fell in love with wine and winemaking in their home state of Washington, their appreciation for good wine, good friends, and good community has followed them across the country. Now located in the Texas Hill Country, they just opened Gardien, a wine storage facility that focuses on more than just bottles and crates. It’s designed to bring people together.
“Gardien is much more than just a place to store your wine,” says Eric. “We want to be that catalyst that brings people together. We want our clients to meet each other, share personal interests, and hopefully make new friends and enjoy new experiences together.”
The LaBries know firsthand the camaraderie that is often experienced alongside a bottle of delicious wine. From harvesting and bottling wines with other volunteers, to hosting neighborhood wine walks and dinners with friends, they’ve made some of their best memories around a bottle of wine. And they hope to open up others to similar experiences and inspire them to create their own.
Bringing local communities of wine enthusiasts together is what they do best. Eric and Kris don’t want their facility to feel like an exclusive club for elitists in the wine market. Rather, they want to be a place where anyone can come and have fun learning about wine, share a bottle with a friend, or store their very first collection—no matter how big or small.
That’s one of the things that sets Gardien apart from most wine storage companies. It focuses on the people, on really serving their community. Instead of renting out large lockers (and potentially paying for space you don’t need), you simply pay to store what you have. Garden will inventory and photograph everything for you, so you never forget what’s in your collection. And the LaBries will even give additional information about some of the wine you have. It’s all a part of Gardien's goal to give its customers an elevated experience and make them feel happy, included, and equipped in their knowledge of wine. “The world of wine is huge,” Eric says. “And unless somebody shares some of their knowledge with you, you’ll never know.”
Members at Gardien also have access to hosting spaces on site. Whether you want to meet up with a client, share a bottle of wine with a few friends, or host a private dinner, it’s the perfect atmosphere for rich fellowship and pleasant conversation. “I think there are a lot of people in the Dripping Springs area that enjoy wine,” says Kris. “But there aren’t many places that you can just go and actually open up a bottle of your own wine and share it with other people.” Gardien is striving to fill that gap.
With upcoming monthly events and opportunities for their clients and customers to learn and grow, the LaBries are providing an elevated experience to all wine lovers. “Every person who enjoys wine likely has a great story about people, places, and a particular bottle they enjoyed together. We wanted to share this concept with others and thought that wine storage could be the vehicle that allows us to bring it all together,” says Eric.
WineGardien.com | @winegardien
"Garden is much more than just a place to store your wine. We want to be that catalyst that brings people together." - Eric LaBrie