Wine lovers will welcome this new uptown Shelby business

There's about to be a new wine shop in uptown Shelby.

Mary Montalvo has spent a dozen years in the wine industry and is now bringing her expertise, passion and love of community to Shelby.

Montalvo, who is originally from Puerto Rico, is in the midst of renovating a location at 5 N. Lafayette St. and hopes to open Wine Collective by Valentine’s Day, depending on the permitting process.

Wine Collective will not only offer around 100 labels to start, but Montalvo wants to add a wine education element with classes, tastings and wine club meetings. She said she wants a create a quaint, cozy and inviting atmosphere where people can hang out, talk about wine and enjoy a safe and welcoming environment centered around community.

Montalvo formerly ran a wine and tapas bar in Florida at a small, intimate location that seated around 25 within five years, she had moved into a larger location that eventually seated up to 100.

She said a divorce and burnout caused her to to sell, and she ended up opening the Wine Academy in downtown Asheville, a former vacation spot and where she first fell in love with the Carolinas. She said her ongoing divorce also resulted in the closure of that location, and she then spent a year working for Mountain Brook Vineyards in Tryon handling social media and club management. She said after a year, she realized it was not the life for her.

“After a year I was like, ‘No this is not me.’ It was not what I wanted to do,” she said. “I wanted to open a wine shop.”

Montalvo debated going back to Florida, which was still home for her, and where she had investors and connections.

“But life has certain ways, and I met somebody and that somebody lives here in Shelby,” she said.

Montalvo began searching for a location, first looking at Charlotte, which she said has a very saturated market, and then Belmont and Mount Holly, but couldn't find real estate available for what she wanted to do.

It took her about five months to find the right location in Shelby, and she has been renovating the space to create a midcentury look.

She expects to have her permit by the second week of February, just in time for a Valentine’s Day event.

Montalvo has worn many hats over the years and has a degree in journalism and law. She speaks Spanish and German, spending two years in Germany with her former husband. After attending law school in Puerto Rico, she settled in the states and decided it was going to be home.

Montalvo said she has experienced a lot of life because she did everything fast forward, graduating high school at 16, college at 19 and was married by 21.

“I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I finished high school very young. I was 16. Coming from a poor family schooling was everything," she said. "I was the second one in my family to go to college, that was a big deal, they were pushing, 'Go to school, go to school.' My counselor told me, 'You are good at writing. Why don't you go to journalism school?' I was like OK, that sounds good.”

She worked for a magazine writing features about local celebrities before attending law school.

After law school, Montalvo became interested in wine, despite the fact that it was a male-dominated industry with very little diversity.

Twelve years ago, when she was studying to be a sommelier, there were only five women in her class and only two were brown or Latino, Montalvo said.

She hasn’t stopped learning about wine since and has a Wine Spirits and Education Trust Level 3 in Wines Certified Specialist and is currently a diploma of wine student with hopes of entering a master in wine program next year.

She said its been more challenging than law school.

“I’m a nerd, and I like to study and I'm going to go all the way,” Montalvo said.

She said she is looking forward to opening in uptown Shelby where she can get to know people and their tastes.

Montalvo was quick to emphasize Wine Collective is not a bar and is not intended to compete with Dragonfly Wine Market on West Warren Street.

“We do have a tasting room area and some seating,” she said. “The front of the house is going to have all of the bottles. We are concentrating on small producers. Boutique wine.”

Montalvo wants customers to know what they’re drinking, be willing to explore and try something different. She wants to bring in some obscure wines in addition to the classics and plans to offer some craft beer as well.

There will be prefixed wine flights for the week with corresponding specials on bottles of wine. She plans to host a tasting and cupcake pairing Feb. 12, if all goes according to plan, and said she would like to host some wine pairings and dinners with her partner, who is a private chef.

Montalvo said she plans to start small and gradually build her inventory.

Other future plans include a paint and sip and monthly wine walks where people can stop at uptown businesses and taste different wines along the way and then buy bottles at the end of the walk.

She said it would also benefit local restaurants and businesses.

“I believe in the symbiotic relationship of business ownership,” Montalvo said. “Having a healthy wine scene directs and affects the dining scene.”

Montalvo said this isn’t her first rodeo, and she knows how to run a business and how to grow it and hopes to eventually move into a bigger location with a space for cooking classes.

“I want to create community. I believe in community a lot,” she said.

For updates and more information, follow Wine Collective on Facebook, The Wine Collective on Instagram or visit the website at thevintagewinecollective.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Uptown Shelby to gain a new business