Natasha Williams built her name on wine festivals that sell out year after year. Now she's giving Cincinnati a permanent place to get that same experience whenever the mood strikes. Her new Lush Life Tasting Room opens Friday, August 21, at 917 Vine Street in downtown Cincinnati, offering booked wine-tasting experiences across four flavor categories: red, white, sweet, and mixed selections.
Williams is the founder of BLK Wine Fest, an annual celebration of Black-owned wine brands and producers that, according to Cincinnati CityBeat, sells out consistently every year. She also founded the Cincy Rosé Wine Festival, which the outlet reports has the same reliable sellout track record. Those festivals earned national attention when USA Today named BLK Wine Fest one of the 10 Best New Festivals in the country in 2024, according to BLK Wine Fest. Tickets for the 2026 edition of the festival sold out within 24 hours of going on sale, per WCPO 9.
That kind of demand, the CityBeat report notes, is exactly why Williams decided a brick-and-mortar space made sense. She said Lush Life needed a new space to highlight the wines in its portfolio, and the tasting room is designed to make the festival experience available year-round rather than confined to one or two weekends a year.
What a Session at 917 Vine Street Looks Like
Each tasting session runs 75 minutes and accommodates 20 to 24 guests, with every session featuring four to five wines. Sweet, white, and red sessions cost $35, while the mixed tasting runs $45, the outlet's report states. The room requires advance booking, and charcuterie is available for purchase alongside the pours. Williams plans to expand the tasting selection over time and to curate seasonal experiences throughout the year, according to the same report.
The opening lineup features Bedvyne Wines, IBest Wines, Don Luchi Wines, and Mom Juice Wines, per the article. The grand-opening schedule also brings in guest winemakers Ingrid Best of IBest Wines and Macie Mincey, according to BLK Wine Fest. Beyond the standard wine flights, the venue has also scheduled a $25 “First Day, Best Day” bottomless mimosa morning event for parents on Wednesday, August 19, according to a SimpleTix listing, a sign that the space is meant to double as a daytime community gathering spot rather than strictly an evening wine bar.
From HR Career to Ohio's Only Black and Woman-Owned Distributor
Williams is a Forest Park, Ohio native who earned a communication studies degree from the University of Cincinnati and spent 23 years working in human resources before shifting her focus to wine, according to Verizon. She started her career as a bartender and entered the wine industry in 2018, when she founded Lush Life Brands. The company began as a wine brokerage firm, and Williams went on to earn a Level 1 Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification from the Napa Valley Wine Academy, according to Cincinnati Magazine. Today, per CityBeat's reporting, she is Ohio's only Black and woman-owned licensed wine distributor.
That distinction lands against a stark national backdrop. Black wine producers account for less than 1% of the roughly 11,000 wineries in the United States, and industry surveys show only 2% of wine professionals identify as Black, according to Word In Black. Williams has framed her business as a direct response to that gap. She said Lush Life was created to make wine approachable and fun for people of color, and for anybody, per the CityBeat article. She has also said she wants guests to meet new people, make friends, feel good, and feel inspired, and that she hopes to foster a sense of community around wine.
Williams' civic footprint extends beyond retail and events. She also established The Grapevine Foundation, a nonprofit focused on mental health and well-being resources for workers in the hospitality and service industries, according to Verizon's report.
A Storefront Steps From Kroger's Headquarters
The tasting room sits across the street from Kroger's corporate headquarters, according to CityBeat, and Lush Life Brands leases the space from the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., also known as 3CDC. Christy Samad, 3CDC's EVP of Civic & Commercial Space Activation, is named in the CityBeat report as connected to the project, which 3CDC supported.
The location places Lush Life along the Court Street Plaza corridor, a $5.5 million streetscape project that 3CDC completed in 2021, creating a pedestrian promenade built for outdoor dining and retail activations. 3CDC developed Court Street Plaza and the surrounding area as part of a broader downtown strategy; the nonprofit developer has directed more than $2 billion in total investment across over 100 projects in Cincinnati's Central Business District and Over-the-Rhine since its founding in 2003, according to 3CDC. Lush Life Tasting Room will operate Thursdays through Sundays, giving downtown Cincinnati a new, walkable stop where the crowds that once chased sold-out festival tickets can now book a table any given weekend.
