Landscaping legend bottles unique attraction at its iconic headquarters.
Imagine a picture perfect evening in Martin City. On your way to your favorite neighborhood restaurant, you stroll the sidewalk along 135th street where the scent of seasonal flowers and the sound of soft music draw you through the gates of Rosehill Gardens. A few steps later, you’re inside the new Rosehill Winery where you settle in with a glass against a background of colorful blooms, lush plants, and rippling water.
Introducing Rosehill Winery
Slide into the sanctuary of a courtyard table, take a walk along the koi pond, or grab a seat inside where a custom-built wood bar impresses you beneath lighting perfectly matched to the atmosphere. It’s just what you’d expect from the Rosehill brand, synonymous with first class quality for an incredible 110 years.
“You can feel the excitement,” says Rosehill Gardens Marketing Director Jeff Meneffee. “For months we’ve had people wandering into the Garden Store and asking about our opening. A winery is just a natural fit for Rosehill and Martin City. There’s nothing like it around here and people are showing a strong interest.”
Rosehill Winery, the perfect integration of indoor and outdoor experiences.
Bottling a Vintage Opportunity.
You may already be familiar with Rosehill’s rise to landscaping royalty on a reputation built by celebrated projects in every corner of the Kansas City area. And maybe you’ve meandered through Rosehill’s highly-rated Garden Store and adjacent courtyard, or chosen the artfully arranged outdoor event space for your wedding, birthday, or corporate party. But you’ve never tasted the new winery experience extending the flavor of the entire business in lofty new ways that are also wonderfully down to earth.
A perfect pairing: Rosehill Winery and the sprawling grounds at Rosehill Gardens.
The Rosehill courtyard — an ideal setting for live music paired with the winery experience.
“It’s the land and water. It’s the flowers and the open space. It’s the taste that comes from quality grapes in skilled hands,” emphasizes Rosehill winemaker Chad Powell. “All of it put together is a perfect combination.”
The wine that will soon be at the center of the perfect combination is 100% Rosehill, and Chad Powell is a key ingredient. He’s the winery’s exclusive winemaker, bringing distinct artisan magic to the table backed by years of hard-earned experience in California wine country. Not just any winemaker can boast achieving a 92 point rating from Wine Enthusiast.
“I just love everything about making wine,” says Powell from behind his laptop and piles of paper documenting the business side of the endeavor. “I’ve also worked in wine sales and retailing. I came to Rosehill ready to jump in with both feet.”
Chad Powell’s expertise and experience power the Rosehill Winery.
Powell recently moved back home to the Kansas City area, where he grew up, and crossed paths with his old friend and Rosehill Co-owner Curtis Stroud just as a former wine bar tenant moved off the property to focus on its own winery in rural Kansas. Stroud decided to recruit Powell to cultivate a new operation from the ground up that Rosehill could call its very own.
“I moved to the Kansas City area for other reasons and wasn’t looking to get back into wine, but this was a one-of-a-kind chance to really do it right,” Powell explains. “The winemaking industry is very hard, and maybe the hardest part is finding the right space. You need space to showcase the wine, host tastings, and everything else that goes with a successful operation. Rosehill already had a terrific space and infrastructure, and that made it irresistible.”
Powell is giving it all he’s got to unlock the best taste that ultra premium grapes can offer. He’ll get them from select growers as close as rural Missouri and as far as California, and then dive in at Rosehill to turn them into unforgettable pleasure. You can expect the first official branded Rosehill Winery bottles to arrive in spring 2025. In the meantime, he’s drawing on his discriminating taste to carefully select an array of local and imported wines that are a cut above the rest, and sure to please.
Powell is also dedicated to uncorking a love of wine through education, working with Menefee to plan special events around different wine regions, the fascinating relationship between wine and wine-specific glassware, and even the connection between wine and art.
Whether you’re a seasoned connoisseur or just starting your wine journey, there’s something for everyone at Rosehill Winery, a place as special as Martin City itself.
Sweetening the Experience.
Almost as important as the wine served here is the wine bar experience that revolves around it. That’s where Marketing Director Jeff Menefee offers exquisite style, operational know-how, and a critical thread of Rosehill continuity running through it all. Menefee knows how to turn trial customers into loyal fans, and he’s not holding back.
“I’m in a great position to do what I do well,” Meneffee explains as we follow him around the indoor space he’s worked hard to remodel. “We’re taking big steps toward new Rosehill potential.”
It’s no secret that Menefee has a lot to do with the success of the Rosehill Garden Store and the event space’s packed calendar. He’s devoted himself to crafting Rosehill retail and events for years. And before coming to Rosehill, Menefee built a long resume of wide-ranging hospitality experience.
Marketing Director Jeff Menefee ensures the right touch.
Menefee championed the idea of fully covering the heart of the wine bar space and integrating air conditioning to prevent heat waves and rain from getting in the way. He’s planning to keep the wine flowing all day, most days, so that customers browsing plants, trees, and flowers in the Rosehill Garden Shop can sip as they shop, or just spend a little quiet time enjoying a glass in the courtyard. The menu will include craft beer and a few top shelf spirits too, just in case you’ve got someone tagging along who wants options. Plenty of live music is on tap as well.
Down to the details. Creative lighting design brings the outdoor feeling indoors to the covered wine bar space.
Browse the Garden Store while you sip your cabernet.
“You can expect Friday and Saturday nights to be classic wine bar nights. Thursdays will likely be set aside for more creative and unique occasions. Bigger events are coming later in the year, and we’ve configured the space to make it flexible enough to welcome small and large groups alike, looking to reserve for special occasions.”
Menefee is also busy finessing the winery’s broader appeal, carefully shaping an ongoing events schedule that fans will eagerly plan around, and developing valuable Rosehill Wine Club benefits ranging from VIP experiences to discounts on everything from wine to flowers, plants, and event rentals.
Menefee and Powell partner to pool creative planning ideas.
Menefee and Powell unveil months of work from the ground up on opening night in September 2024.
“We don’t want our landscaping business, event space, Garden Store, and winery to be silos,” says Rosehill Gardens co-owner Curtis Stroud. “We want to tie them together because Rosehill is known for quality, and everything we do is rooted in that. We’ve spent over a century building a very unique brand and we’re excited about evolving it in ways that make sense.”
Rosehill Co-owner Curtis Stroud (left) in a 2023 interview with local television station FOX4.
Evolving the Rosehill brand also evolves the Martin City brand, sending a clear message that there’s no other place like it, in a neighborhood like no other in Kansas City. Thank you Rosehill Gardens for your investment in our community and congratulations on the start of a new era in the trailblazing story at 311 East 135th Street.
