A new wine cellar and members-only club named 55 Seventy is expected to open in March or April 2022 in Dallas’ Preston Center.
The idea comes from Tommy Shuey, a former lacrosse player turned data analytics entrepreneur. He’s a relatively new wine drinker who says he wants to create a stylish meetup spot with wine storage.
“You don’t have to be collecting $1,000 Bordeaux,” Shuey says. “If you’re buying Caymus at the grocery store, great: Come in, hang out, even if you’re not a big collector.” Events might include wine 101, trivia night, a women-in-wine series, and geekier stuff for serious drinkers, like soil types in the Piedmont region of Italy.
55 Seventy — named for the ideal temperature to store wine, 55 degrees, and the ideal humidity, 70% — is an 8,500-square-foot place, nearly half of which is wine storage. The remaining 4,500 will be a Champagne lounge, tasting bar, 16-person private dining room and patio for members.
BYOB and by-the-glass
Shuey brought on sommelier Jeff Gregory, former general manager and wine director at the French Room and FT33, both in Dallas, as a partner at 55 Seventy.
In the tasting room, Gregory will source wine by the glass and bottle, mostly from small productions. Shuey hopes that’s useful for those who want a single glass of something interesting, instead of opening their own bottle.
“My wife and I drink totally different wines,” Shuey says. “If I open a $100 bottle, I’d better be ready to drink the whole thing.”
Notably, 55 Seventy will operate as a BYOB (bring your own beverage) venue. Ask a wine collector in Dallas, and they’ll lament the lack of restaurant options if they want to uncork a special bottle of wine at an upscale restaurant.
The reason many restaurants don’t allow customers to BYOB — or tack on hefty corkage fees if they do — is because restaurants make significant margins on wine sales. They’d rather sell a pricey bottle than let you bring one in for free. 55 Seventy operates differently: It’s not a restaurant, it’s a membership-based club. Its business model doesn’t rely on alcohol sales.
Park Cities: A new wine destination?
55 Seventy is the second wine place opening in Preston Center in 2022: A wine shop and restaurant named the Glass Cellar will move in where Snuffer’s burger joint operated for about 15 years.
A third, Trova Wine + Market, opened on the east side of Preston Road in 2020.
All three are owned and operated by different entities.
Shuey says he was motivated to open 55 Seventy after seeing the success of Park House, a private social club in Highland Park Village. He grew up in the Park Cities and says that when he moved back after college, North Dallas was missing after-dinner wine options.
“You have some great establishments — Inwood Tavern and the TOT [Time Out Tavern] — but we were looking for something where we could sit down, have a drink and be a little more laidback.”
“We basically made a place where we wanted to hang out,” he says.
That’s almost exactly what Dallas restaurateur Greg Katz said when he explained why he’s opening Clifton Club next year. It’ll be a lounge — another drinking option — near the Park Cities.
20 more wine clubs coming soon
55 Seventy is open to members and their guests only. The standard fee is $249 a month, plus $1,500 in initiation, and includes access to all events and to the wine tasting area for two people: the member and a spouse. A social membership, for just one person, is $149 a month, plus $1,000 in initiation, and includes access to the space but not to the events.
Wine storage costs extra for both tiers of membership.
Shuey says he’ll have about 300 members when 55 Seventy opens. He thinks those 300 spots will be sold out by early 2022.
He left the world of data analytics to start 55 Seventy. Even though the first one hasn’t opened yet, he has plans to open 20 more in the United States.
“Austin and Houston are the two natural next locations,” he says. “And then California: There’s such a huge demand in California.”
55 Seventy will be at 6130 Berkshire Lane, Dallas. It’s expected to open in March or April 2022. Members can access their wine cellars from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. The club will be open to members from early afternoon until late night, Tuesday through Saturday.
