Friendship blossoms into partnership at Trez Art and Wine Bar
Shawntell McWilliams moved to Houston from Shreveport a decade ago to get married and start a new chapter in her already accomplished life, which had included 15 years spent working at her alma mater, Wiley College, in Marshall. Once she and Keith, a banker and the love of her life, exchanged their vows, she would figure things out.
So McWilliams put together a list of options. Staying in education — she’s currently pursuing a doctorate in Education Leadership at Liberty University — and doing philanthropic work easily made the cut. Manage a wine bar? No way. Battle breast cancer? Absolutely not.
Today, however, McWilliams is a breast cancer survivor, and Trez Art and Wine Bar, near the intersection of Washington and Studemont in Buffalo Heights, is her baby. It seems she did such a great job consulting on the opening for owner James Davis, he asked her to stay on and run the place.
“He told me, ‘It’s your show,’ ” she said. “I told him, ‘Oh, this is going to be fun.’ ”
Davis, for his part, always wanted to have a bar. But he wanted a sports bar, a spot to hang out and cheer Houston’s teams on with his buddies while chilling after a long day’s work at Gulfgate Dodge, the Houston auto dealership he bought in 2002. He had relocated in 1980 to the Houston area from North Carolina, where he grew up, after taking a job with U.S. Steel in Baytown. Davis got laid off a couple years later — fortuitously, given how he soon learned he had a gift for selling cars.
The “Art and Wine” part Davis never saw coming until he and his wife, Marla, took a trip to Napa Valley. A particularly memorable stop at Brown Estate Vineyards in St. Helena turned his head. Big cabs are his personal favorites, followed closely by malbecs from Argentina.
“I knew the (space’s) previous owner, and I was aware he wanted to get out of the business,” Davis said. “Then, soon after we got home from Napa, another friend came to me and presented an opportunity to purchase it. I sort of saw it as an omen, and the next thing you know, I’ve got myself a wine bar.”
The friendship-turned partnership between Davis and McWilliams was born of the latter’s visit to the dealership with her husband to buy a new Jeep. She was so impressed with the sales process that she asked to meet the man in charge. When Davis came out, McWilliams shook his hand, thanked him and said she would be spreading the word to all her friends.
In return, however, he recalls, “Shawntell asked me to support a few causes she was involved with.” I said, ‘Of course.’ ”
The Sisters Network Inc., the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the March of Dimes, the United Negro College Fund and Perfect Connection, which assists families with autistic children, are particularly important to her. Trez hosts frequent fundraisers and has continued to make charitable donations despite the financial strain caused by the pandemic.
Although McWilliams insists she had already “fallen in love with Houston and its wonderful diversity,” it would be the many hours spent at MD Anderson that put her on a path to “give back to the community that helped save my life.”
She said she “discovered the lump the week of my wedding. I didn’t tell anyone. After celebrating during a post wedding party, I asked my mom, who’s a nurse, and my younger sister Liza, ‘Hey, would you feel this?’ They encouraged me to get a mammogram, but I knew it was breast cancer … it was always my greatest fear. I was diagnosed with stage 3B triple positive breast cancer on a Wednesday and began chemotherapy on Sunday.”
After five surgeries, including a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, she’s in full remission.
McWilliams’ desire to help others, her knack for fundraising and her sense of style (she made the Houston Chronicle’s Best Dressed list in 2018) made becoming Trez’s public face a perfect fit. But she admits she had to get fully up to speed when it came to wine.
A “girl’s trip” to Italy had given her a feel for how vast and varied the world of vintners and vineyards is, and she sought help from two local sommeliers, Rhonda Russell, who founded Taste Collection Cellars, and Cornelius Anthony Jr., whose specialty is boutique champagne and sparkling wine producers, to put together a 50bottle list. With seven countries and multiple appellations represented, it’s nothing if not eclectic.
McWilliams is proud that 90 percent of the selections can’t be found in retail stores and that all are available by the glass, too. Also, executive chef Eian Woodward’s full dinner and Sunday brunch menus make Trez as much a restaurant as it is a wine bar.
Davis is especially proud of the art component, curated by Carla Bisong, owner of the Bisong Art Gallery. Trez provides local artists a platform to display their art while providing the décor accents. The bartenders and servers who contribute to selling works receive a commission.
Despite the unanticipated challenges presented by COVID-19, which turned the hospitality industry on its head less than a year after Trez opened, Davis insists he harbors not an ounce of regret, calling his wine bar adventure “an amazing experience.” McWilliams agreed. “Wine is the umbrella,” she said, “but it allows us to do something for Houston. There’s so much peace of mind that goes with giving back, with helping others.”