Mutiny Wine Room Brings The Heights an Elite Taste of Napa Valley

The anticipated Mutiny Wine Room will soon begin serving a rare assortment of boutique California wineries in the Heights starting this month.

The new 4,579-square-foot tasting room and retail outlet (1124 Usener Street) is scheduled to start pouring on Saturday, January 18. The new vino venture comes from husband/wife duo Mark Ellenberger and Emily Trout.

The Napa-obsessed couple tapped award-winning Sonoma chef and CIA grad Ari Weiswasser to curate a wine-friendly menu inspired, in part, by his time at the famed Michelin-starred French Laundry.

Opening dishes under his watch include sunchoke soup with vanilla bean and black truffle; Vietnamese-styled Gulf Prawns on sugar cane skewers with pineapple-charred shishito vinaigrette; steamed Prince Edward Island mussels with saffron and pernod emulsion; rigatoni pasta with mushrooms, pumpkin butter, and honey-poached cranberries with parmesan; and buttermilk fried quail with Vidalia onion fondue and herb salad.

Jenn Duncan/Mutiny Wine Room

Thanks to a Coravin wine system in the tasting room, each bottle can be poured by the glass while staying intact.

The chic new venue is a tale of two spaces: a tasting room designated for educational flights and a sit-down restaurant dubbed the “farmhouse.” Seating arrangements include tabletop, bar, and lounge dining options. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook two open-air patios, which can accommodate up to 48 guests for al fresco tastings alongside Fido.

The rustic look by MASA Studio Architects draws inspiration from old school vineyard barns iconic to Napa Valley. Accents include exposed beams, reclaimed wood fixtures, live-edge bar tops, and stone walls sourced from local quarries in Texan wine country.

Patrons are greeted with massive mahogany doors that were salvaged from the home of Emily’s father after Hurricane Harvey.