Just a few miles from downtown McKinney, three generations of the Mitas family have transformed a rocky hillside into a thriving vineyard with a crop that is bottled into their own vintage wine label.
Mitas Hill Vineyard has evolved from a piece of property that was originally purchased as a family estate to a unique events destination complete with a winery and wine bar.
“The vineyard started as a way to make our homeplace nice,” said Steve Mitas, the son of Harold and Sue Mitas, who discovered the hill and decided to make it their dream home. “It got to the point where it was so nice, we knew we needed to share it with other people. It grew to the point where it was becoming more than a hobby.”
The vineyard was started on 12 acres with a planting of 25 grape plants.
“We thought, ‘We’ve got the land—why not farm it,” Steve said. “My father happened along a vineyard at the Red River and brought home a clipping from there, then we added another 25 plants. But it was still just a hobby.”
However, that hobby grew from 25 plants to the 9,500 plants growing at Mitas Hill today as well as the development of a new business venture.
“We are a tight-knit family and have been in business together for a long time,” he said. “We continue to live and work together. I think it’s part of our DNA.”
Once Mitas Hill entered business mode, grape plants were added each year.
“We are able to have success growing grapes because of the good soil,” Steve said. “This is a blackland prairie with a rocky hillside, so the water doesn’t sit on the roots too long. We use the soil to our advantage.”
Once the Mitas family realized they had a quality crop, they knew they needed an end product for the grapes and decided to create a winery with its first vintage in 2010, Steve said.
“At this point we had several varieties, so we knew we needed to expand to offer a way to sell it,” he said. “The goal was to bring people here because we wanted them to see this place, not just taste and leave with a bottle.”
The facilities expanded to include not only the winery, but also large gathering rooms to attract people to Mitas Hill.
“We wanted a building to draw people, whether it’s for weddings, corporate events, charitable events,” Steve said. “Then The Wine Bar opened on Labor Day in 2014 and offers a light menu of pizza from our wood-burning oven, salads and appetizers. The pizza and wine combo seems to work well.”
Steve said the goal is for word about Mitas Hill to spread so the venue can grow even more.
“There’s the stigma that we are way out in the middle of nowhere, but in reality we are right here,” he said. “We hope word of mouth continues to spread about a place like ours.”
2300 Vineyard Hill Lane, McKinney 972-316-7991 • www.mitashill.com The Wine Bar hours: Wed.-Thu. 5-9 p.m., Fri. 5-10 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., closed Mon.-Tue.
