Buda Spotlight: Water2Wine
Let's chat with Dane Aziz, owner of Buda's Water2Wine at Buda Mill & Grain Co. Discover a boutique winery on this Texas Main Street City.
You'll love the welcome and the wine. Check it out!
Video Transcript
Dana: What's up, Budaful Life? I'm Dana Williams here at Water2Wine with Dane. So Water to Wine? It's kind of a curious name. What was it that attracted you to that name?
Dane: The franchise has been around 20 years (Dana: okay) so it's not a name I came up with but it's a name I've always been drawn to just because I mean it was Jesus' first miracle, (yeah) first and foremost. but it's about... 15 years ago, my ex-wife and I-we were down in New Braunfels with some friends and everything else and just stumbled onto a little small batch winery and we went in we liked the wine. We actually did a batch ourselves, you know, weeks, months later (okay) and we just enjoyed the whole experience. (Dana: yeah) and it just, you know, through time and everything else-when you know life changed in 2018 for me, I was in an opportunity to open up the business, I mean and first thing I thought of was Water2Wine.
Dana: That's so cool.
Dane: Yeah
Dana: I love that. Tell me about Water2Wine... Where you located You Know?
Dane: So this is my only location. There are five other locations total, including this one. There's Wind Farms in Seguin; there is New Braunfels-it's been there for about 15-16 years; and then there's one in North Austin. It's been there for about 18 years and then there's one in Colorado.
Dana: And how long have you been here?
Dane: I've been here four... it'll be four years this Valentine's Day. (okay) and we're located here on Main Street on Main Street at Buda Mill and Grain, right next to Nate's, Mudbugs, a whole bunch of little eclectic shops you know Mercantile, you know, you got Ellipsis.
Dana: Totally. It's tucked back here a little bit, so like if you get into the area just make sure you keep going you you'll find it! When the people who are here in Buda think of Water2Wine... if you were to fill-in-the-blank I want "I want them to think of us when these things happen in their lives... Give me like three instances when Water2Wine should be their go-to?
Dane: Date nights, (okay) birthday parties and definitely weddings for batch-making and stuff like that since we do custom labels. We can actually put any picture and any wording on a label and make it your own for your special occasion, your wedding, your anniversary or anything else.
Dana: Okay, so tell us a little bit more about batch-making. I think maybe people don't realize that's an option here.
Dane: So what batch making is-you actually come in and make make a batch of wine. It's not a batch of wine that you get to blend or anything else; it's something we've proofed. So I don't want to send you home a 28 bottles of something you're just never going to drink again (sure) so it's something we we have to prove and we actually have to make sure we can we do it first and it's enjoyable. So you come in you get the vintners' experience where you're actually put laying down the bentonite, which is a clay that the yeast sits on top of. You put the grape juice in, put water in, oak if it needs it and different things so you're the vintnor for that afternoon. It's about a 30-40 minute process and then 6-8 weeks later, you come in and you bottle your wine. You bottle it, you foil it, you add your labels to it, and it it's your wine.
Dana: Completely custom. That's so fun! Describe to me and our listeners what... what the Water2Wine experience is like. How do you imagine that for somebody who walks in what are they going to what are they going to feel when they come in here?
Dane: They're going to feel safe. They're going to feel appreciated. The team is just phenomenal! The wine is great. I love our wines. It's a low sulfite low wines, more palatable, more clean but what you really get at Water2Wine is an experience with the team. They just are unique individuals-each and every one of them is their own person and I love that about each and every one of them. (yeah) and they just treat you like they've known you forever. (yeah) I mean they they bring you in; they're welcoming, they're, you know, happy; they're cordial; they're caring; and they want to get to know each person as a person, not as anything else and that's, you know, that's part of you know my personal core values for Water2Wine is relationship-building. You know, build a relationship with the members, with the guests everything else cause we're all people. We all may have had a rough day, you know. Listen to them, you know, see what they want and, you know, and that's part of building the palate or building the flights based off the palate is getting to know "what do you like?" you know "tell me a little bit about yourself or what you like to drink: (yeah) It's just about getting to know our guests.
Dana: Yeah, I would say that has been my experience here as well. And what I think is interesting is you have such a variety of wines that even somebody who's a non-wine drinker might come in and... my husband, for example, when we first started coming here did not drink wine but he has turned into a wine lover. So yeah and that... part of that was just like the opportunity to try and taste things and the way that your team kind of set the table for him to be able to do that in a really safe environment, so thanks for creating that experience.
Dane: Love it. Appreciate it.
Dana: All right, what is on the horizon for 2024? Anything new and exciting happening here at Water2Wine?
Dane: Well yes. We did just release our Oak and Smoke Flights and Oak and Smoke Wine. So it's almost like a smoked old fashioned where you can we actually smoke it on a cedar plank and everything else and then actually pour the wine in. We've tested a few wines some didn't work out great some work out fantastic. So we do have set flights now (okay) for Oak and Smoke. We are working on putting together a Wine 101 class and a Wine 102 class. Teach (yeah) teach wine, how to taste it, and everything else what you're looking for. Just more events, you know. We have more women's events. We have more Make and Takes. We're going to have more individual events here as well (yeah) different things and hopefully to get into more restaurants. You know, build more collaborations like we did with Mud Bugs. You know, we have the collaboration with Mud Bugs on the menu and they'll bring over their food and everything else. We are in Brooklyn's. So just get into more, you know, places outside of Buda, you know. We're going to look at Wimberly, San Marcos, Driftwood, Dripping, and getting getting into more places.
Dana: That's exciting! (yeah) All right. All the best to you and your team.
Dane: Thank you, appreciate it.
Dana: All right! There you have it, Budaful. Come on out and try some wine at Water2Wine; have a girls' night, have a date night, make some wine. You're going to love it!
