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The Pour Girl Redefining Texas Wine

story Joshua Baethge | photos Kathy Tran

A 33-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF TWO SUCCESSFULLY BUILDING HER OWN WINE COMPANY IN PLANO WITH GRAPES GROWN EXCLUSIVELY IN TEXAS?

That’s Jessica Wortham and The Pour Girl, her 18-month-old winemak ing company — a dream-come-true for Wortham, who started thinking about making and selling wine in college.

“I’m just enjoying doing the ground work, getting out meeting people and pushing my product,” she says. “It’s been a lot of fun for me.”

The fun began in her 20s, when Wortham read a book about winemak ing.

The process of actually getting into the busi ness has been a little more trying than expected, she says. She and her husband began talking about the business in 2019, with the idea of launch ing in 2020; that was going to be her year.

She be gan licens ing work that February only to see the pro cess delayed by various COVID-relat ed restrictions. When things started opening back up later, she got to work re fining recipes and working with a cus tom-crush facility.

“If I was going to do this, I was going to do this right,” she says. “That means doing really good-quality Texas wine.”

For Wortham, freshness is key. Some of the best wine comes from wineries where you can have a true vineyardto-glass experience, she says. That’s why she’s involved in the entire pro cess, ensuring that grapes and other ingredients are exactly what she wants.

Since debuting last year, she has be come one of the top producers at the

Frisco Fresh Market. She’s also been a hit at area wine festivals and events, including the Plano Food and Wine Fes tival. Wortham admits being a mom and entrepreneur can be hectic. At home, she has a 4-year-old on the autism spectrum as well as a 2-year-old. That often leads to busy days and late-night work long after her children have gone to bed. Occasionally, she just throws up her hands and realizes that certain days are going to be “mommy days.” “It’s a major sacrifice, and some times I feel like I’m going crazy,” she says. “But if I’m going to go cra zy over anything, it would be for a business that I feel is like my third baby.” The next step for The Pour Girl may be get ting on store s h e l v e s . People should Wortham wants to have no shame make her products more ac no matter what cessible, and a distri bution part type of wine ner would help that ef they like. fort. She’s cur rently taking meetings, con tinuing to learn the business and keeping her fingers crossed that she might find the right fit this year. Another goal is to take some of the pretentiousness out of wine drinking. She believes too many people regur gitate old theories they’ve been told instead of discovering what types of wine they really enjoy. “People should have no shame no matter what type of wine they like,” she says. “I just think that people should like what they like. It’s kind of silly to have all these rules in wine.” Learn more about The Pour Girl at thepourgirlwines.com. P