Kansas City couple to open West Bottoms winery: ‘It’s been fun, exciting and scary’

A new winery is set to open in the West Bottoms.

Jay and Melissa Pietkiewicz, owners of Fountain City Winery at 1409 W. 11th St., hope to open in late November or early December.

Pietkiewicz has worked for wineries in California, Iowa and Virginia since 2007. He moved to the Kansas City area in 2015, where he met Melissa, who worked at a local tasting room. They later married and decided to create a business together. They formed Fountain City Winery in 2017 and began taking on investors as they looked for a location. They signed a lease for the West Bottoms space in late February.

“Of course that was the absolute worst time,” Jay Pietkiewicz said. “We have to get city, state and federal permits and it has to happen in specific order and so the pandemic delayed our opening.”

Fountain City’s starting lineup will be Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, and fruit and dessert wines. It has purchased juice from local growers, as well as some from California. It will have a wine bar and event space for weddings and other events.

“When I was in California I just became very enamored with the wine industry,” Pietkiewicz said. “I enjoyed working with the public and talking about wine. When I started making wine I enjoyed the combination of science and art. But this is my first business. It’s been fun, exciting and scary all at the same time.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 12:47 PM.