Waters Edge brings the urban winery model to Midlothian

Midlothian —

Waters Edge Winery Midlothian has opened a 7,400-square-foot winery, restaurant and event venue at 2201 Chartermark Drive in Chesterfield County, bringing the California franchise’s urban winery model to the Richmond market for the first time.

The business began a soft opening Aug. 17. It is the second Waters Edge in Virginia, after Norfolk, and it is owned by Paul and Rebecca Williams of Midlothian through Fairfacts Winery Co.

Capacity is about 250 people including the event space, and the opening team numbers around 30, about 12 of them full-time.

How the urban winery model works

Waters Edge calls its locations urban or micro-wineries, and the distinction matters to anyone thinking about the format. The franchisee buys grapes, juice and other inputs from growing regions elsewhere and finishes the wine on site, with no vineyard and no crush pad. The Midlothian site puts it plainly, “we do not grow or crush the grapes, we outsource those functions to a global network of vineyards and growers.” The supply network spans California, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, New Zealand and Chile, among others.

That is what lets a working winery occupy a conventional commercial building, which is how one ends up in a new retail development off Charter Colony Parkway. The production room is built and sits at the back, with equipment positioned where customers can watch. Paul Williams told Richmond BizSense that on-site production is set to begin in the near future; the tasting room is pouring wine from the franchise network in the meantime.

For an operator weighing the format, that sequence is the useful part. The room opens as a bistro and tasting room and starts earning while the production side comes online behind it.

What is open now

The beverage list runs to more than 50 reds, whites, rosés, sparkling wines, specialty bottles and sangrias.

A number of them are named for Midlothian-area neighborhoods, which is a nice piece of local branding: Brandermill, Rountrey, Hallsley, Walton Park and Robious Forest all appear on the list, along with Queensmill, Otterdale, Winterfield, Woodlake, Founders Bridge and others. The grapes behind those names come from appellations around the world. The Brandermill, for instance, is a 2021 Voskehat from Vayots Dzor in Armenia; the Walton Park is a Paso Robles cabernet sauvignon.

The kitchen is a full bistro rather than a tasting-room snack program. The published menu covers appetizers, charcuterie, flatbreads, sandwiches, salads and entrées, out of a kitchen of nearly 1,000 square feet.

Wine club membership runs from $40 to $75 a month across four tiers, according to the winery’s own listing, with two bottles monthly, retail discounts, complimentary tastings and event access depending on the level. Bottles are currently collected in person.

Private events, custom bottle labeling, classes and live entertainment are all part of the plan.

Listed hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday. Because the business is still in a soft opening, hours and service may change, and no grand-opening date has been set.

The build, and how the numbers moved

The Williamses leased the building last year, in a newly built shell that Titan Construction Group completed for property owner Riverstone Properties.

In May 2025, Paul Williams put the construction budget at about $1.2 million, with roughly $350,000 more for equipment and furnishings and about $100,000 for opening inventory. He has declined to give a final figure now that the project is finished, so the total investment has not been disclosed.

The scope grew along the way, in the direction operators like. Early planning put capacity around 200 and staffing at four full-time and 16 part-time. The business opened at about 250 and roughly 30 people, a dozen of them full-time. That is the difference between a tasting room with food and a full bistro running table service, a beverage program, an event business and a production room.

The timeline stretched too. The franchisor announced a target of fall 2025 when the agreement was signed; BizSense reported in May 2025 that Williams was aiming for late that year or early 2026. Construction, equipment installation and licensing carried it to August 2026.

Paul Williams spent his career in technology and consulting before this, including chief information officer roles at Alvarez & Marsal and Bowlmor. From 2016 until May 2024 he was chief information officer for Virginia ABC, first the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and then the Authority after its 2018 conversion.

He grew up in England, where he traces his interest in winemaking to his father’s fruit farm. He and Rebecca Williams have lived in Midlothian since 2014.

More information is at the Waters Edge Winery Midlothian website.