After a decade of working in the wine and beverage industry, Kendall Gunderson recognized the growing need for luxury wine storage that also offered an elegant environment designed for wine enthusiasts to connect and enjoy their collections. When the opportunity arose for Kendall and her husband, Sam, to create The Cellars in the OB Mac building, they channeled their knowledge and love of wine into forming a luxurious space.
“Wine has a way of bringing people together that I think is an integral part to why people catch the wine bug to begin with,” shares Kendall. “It's never just about what's in your glass; it's about the farmer or the family or the struggle that it took for them to get there. It’s their success story, or it's simply the circumstance of who you're enjoying that current glass with and the memory that is created there. The community and people that surround wine have been an integral part of The Cellars.”
Bringing that community together led Kendall and Sam to renovate the almost 15,000 square feet of the OB Mac building and create three tiers of membership at The Cellars which includes receiving inventory, wine storage, and exclusive member benefits. The first tier, Locker Members, offers access to a storage space that holds up to 288 bottles on wooden wine racks. The next tier provides larger walk-in wine cellars. “The walk-in wine cellars are a bit of a separate experience. It's secure access only, and it's limited to 24 members,” says Kendall. “These are open spaces that fluctuate in size because we had to work around these gorgeous wooden beams that we wanted to preserve with the history of the building itself. These members have the ability to store upward of 1000+ bottles of wine depending on whether they utilize our wooden wine racks that come automatically with the space or use the space for stacking original wooden crates.”
The most exclusive tier is known as the Founding Members. “The Founding Members is a bit more exclusive and caters to people who are very serious collectors and want more of a private experience,” explains Kendall. “They have their own separate lounge designed using inspiration from Sam's and my time in Saint-Emilion in France. It has a barreled ceiling and stone on the walls meant to transport you to the medieval town of Saint-Emilion.” Founding Members also have the ability to completely customize their space based on what their collection demands. “We will completely build out the space just as it would look if you were to create your personal cellar at your home,” adds Kendall.
Kendall is especially excited about the software program The Cellars will utilize in conjunction with its members to track each member’s inventory. “Because we really are a hybridization of wine storage, social membership and education, it took me a while to find a software program that would make sense for us. We’re partnering with an incredible program that is based out of the UK,” says Kendall. “Members have access to a private member portal where when they sign in, they have a live reflection of their cellar. For members who allow me to do their inventory, that includes receiving the wine, organizing it creating a bin system for their individual space, racking the wine, and entering the data for them into the private client portal. They will be notified and know exactly where that wine is located as part of their collection.”
The portal can be used to submit withdrawal requests with details about when a member would like a selection of wine to be ready. “They can send me a note in the portal that says they are coming in at three o'clock on Wednesday and ask that I preset bottle bin 90 with three wine glasses at their favorite table,” explains Kendall. “Then we will have it preset for them.”
In addition to utilizing the storage options, members also enjoy access to special events, exclusive seminars and master classes with various wineries and wine principles, international trips, and the member lounge. “I really enjoyed intentionally creating warmth in the space and specifically our member lounge. I took inspiration from a lot of old-world décor and blended it in with a modern twist,” says Kendall. “As I mentioned, it's always about the people or the story and that's what I wanted the pieces that we selected for the space to also hold. For example, you're greeted with an 18th-century Swiss coffer in the grand entryway and our community tables are made from reclaimed wood from 150-year-old buildings in London.”
For Kendall and Sam, opening The Cellars is also a way to weave part of their own story into the community. “We love Fort Worth and are very passionate about the city and the people in it,” she shares. “We love the idea of creating a quiet community within Fort Worth where people can come together and feel like they are a part of an extension of their home.”
Membership and private tour inquiries can be made by emailing inquiries@thecellarsobm.com or messaging Kendall directly at atkgunderson@thecellarsobm.com.