Tasting room at Opry Mills Mall evokes urban experience - Main Street Media of Tennessee (2024)

Who ever thought they could hit the local shopping mall, get their shop on and then take a relaxing break onsite to enjoy everything from private wine tastings to a robust gift shop – all centered around a Middle Tennessee award-winning winery?

In 2019, Amber Falls Winery Tasting Room opened at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. It’s a “Satellite Room and Wine Bar” curated to introduce wine connoisseurs to the wonders of Amber Falls Winery & Cellars based in Hampshire, Tenn.

Tasting Room Manager Derek Hutchings said, despite the pandemic, business is booming at this satellite location and as things relaxed over the last few months, this quaint 1,200 square foot destination tucked into one of Nashville’s busiest malls has become an “it” pit stop for a sip or two.

“It has been wonderful to see how, over the years, our community has grown and thousands across the world have been able to experience and enjoy the specialness of Amber Falls Winery & Cellars and join our community of family and friends,” said Hutchings.

Birth of a vineyard and winery

Judy and Tim Zaumbrecher purchased their Hampshire property in 2003 for the purpose of building and opening a Christian retreat center. That didn’t happen, but instead a beautiful vineyard and winery was born. Their first vines, Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc, were planted in 2005 and over the next three years several thousand more vines were planted.

Hutchings explained the winery tasting room located on the vineyard in the Hampshire, opened March of 2008.

“The community has never been the same,” he noted. “This success segued to the tasting room at Opry Mills.”

You could say the business of making wine is in Hutchings’s blood. His mom, Vicki Hatfield, was the vineyard’s manager for 16 years.

“She was around when they planted those first vines,” said Hutchings.

When he was young, Hutchings helped his mom in the vineyard. She retired last year, after meticulously grooming and developing the vines to maturity.

The love of this vineyard and its lush grounds stayed with Hutchings. He’d come to visit his mom and help her catch up with the vines.

“I got to know the owner, Tim and appreciated him so much,” recalled Hutchings. “He was a father figure to me.”

Into cabinet design in North Carolina, four years ago Hutchings followed his instincts, packed up his family, and moved to join the vineyard as manager. His career took quite a turn from turning wood, into managing millions of vines and eventually overseeing the new satellite tasting room in Nashville.

“I became an apprentice at first,” he said.

The Hampshire vineyard is on 350 acres, with 12 acres are dedicated to the grapes. They grow seven different varieties. Hutchings said they are working on a huge expansion of the vineyard in a collaborative effort to expand into the Nashville market. They are installing three new 4,500 gallon tanks, expanding production nearly four times over. This year they will transition from bottling wine by hand to in-line, mechanized bottling.

“We have Double Gold recognition and are national award winners for our wine,” Hutchings said.

He helped design the Opry Mills store and hired the staff.

“Eighty percent of those who visit Opry Mills are tourists,” he noted. “We’ve met people from Norway and Australia here. The mall, the Opry, and the riverboat are regular tourist stops for people coming from the airport that’s so close.”

If you stop by the Tasting Room at the mall you can get five tastings for $8, that’s equivalent to a glass of wine. There are 20 wines to choose from, and a tasting bonus is an introduction to their Peach Wine, TeaZer.

“It’s a mix of our Peach Persuasion wine and unsweetened black tea,” Hutchings explained. “It is low alcohol, crisp and clean with a burst of southern charm.”

And if your taste buds are pleasingly “Tea-zed,” sippers and pick up a package of them in eco-friendly containers and take them home for time on the porch swing, summer nights and celebrations.

If window shopping has you zapped, you can stop by the tasting room and order a glass of wine, paired with meats and cheeses.

The gift shop is a huge draw. It’s loaded with wine related items, as well as bottles of wine to buy. Included are fancy cigars and Tennessee regional products.

And, why is their wine so darn good? What’s different about it?

The vineyard soil is unique, said Hutchings.

“It used to be a tobacco farm,” he said.

That did something magical to the soil. And, there’s plenty of underground springs. They’ve been busy the past few weeks harvesting white grapes. This month is their red harvest and they will fill about 40,000 bottles.

There’s a small cottage on site for rentals. They have the only Tennessee underground retail wine cellar and the scenery on the way from any direction is mind blowing, especially in the fall. And, it’s the area’s only French-style winery in Tennessee.

“We don’t rush the process,” said Hutchings. “It’s more about the experience.”

Top sellers include their peach wine, a light red called Chamberlin, and a white called Blanc Bubois. They are the only growers in Tennessee that produce this particular grape, according to Hutchings. They have a wide variety of events scheduled throughout the year, an indoor meeting room, outdoor covered pavilions, and more.

“I’d just say, most people come to Nashville and enjoy our tasting room at Opry Mills so much, they then decide to make it a day trip and drive on over to the vineyard and enjoy the walking tour. It’s just a grand experience. We are more than a winery; we are a community. And, now our community has found its friends in Nashville.”

Amber Falls Winery & Cellars is about an hour and a half from Nashville at 794 Ridgetop Road in Hampshire, Tenn. 931-285-0088.

Ambers Falls at Opry Mills Mall is located at 349 Opry Mills Dr. Suite 751A in Nashville. 615-307-8560.