A Texas winery is bringing a bit of the Lone Star State to the Villages.
Barons Creek Vineyards is set to open a tasting room at 1171 Main Street in Spanish Springs. The 1,500 square foot wine bar and tasting room will open May 2026, according to Barons Creek partner, Jason Wade. This is the second Florida outpost for the winery, which has a tasting room in Downtown Ocala.
Wade tells What Now Orlando that he and his partners had no intention of opening a location in the Villages, but when he investigated the neighborhood, it just seemed like a perfect fit. “I reached out to the Villages and they welcomed us with open arms,” he says, adding that the chosen spot is part of the Spanish Springs revitalization.
The tasting room at the Villages will be roughly the same size as the Ocala location, and will include indoor seating and an outdoor front porch with tables and umbrellas. Unlike Ocala, this location will be open every day of the week. There will also be a robust activities calendar with daily events that will include music trivia, sip and paint, and live music. The Villages location will also host special events such as wine and oyster pairings and a “tapas and tannins” night.
Wines poured will include 26 varietals from four different regions: California, Washington State, the Texas high plains, and Spain. The Texas winery sources grapes from owner Marc Chase’s own vineyard in Spain for much of the wine. The winery started in Fredericksburg — the heart of Texas wine country — in 2015. Since then, it’s grown with tasting rooms in McKinney, Georgetown, Granbury, McKinney, and Dallas, Texas; Durango, Colorado; and now Florida.
If you’re wondering why a Texas born and bred winery would want to double down on Florida, Wade says that the Texas-Florida connection is very much a real thing. “Places in Florida, like Ocala, remind me very much of Texas. They feel the same. They have the same warm, fuzzy feeling.” Wade says there might even be more tasting rooms in the future, with an eye to Mt. Dora. Cheers to that.
