News
09/12/2018

Member profile: Mary Ann Ellis of TuttiLili Wines and Specialty Foods

IACC member Mary Ann Ellis opened her lovely Italian wine shop TuttiLili Wines and Specialty Foods in West University back in July 2017.

The store is open Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

And on Saturdays, she hosts free wine tastings, open to the public, from 12-6 p.m. where she serves 5-6 wines together with charcuterie and cheese.

Most wine retailers in Texas cannot ship their wines to customers. But Mary Anne, thanks to a special license she’s obtained, can send wines throughout the state (which makes her selection of fine wines from Italy especially appealing to Texas residents who live outside the big cities).

She started drinking Italian wines in the 1980s in New York and Philadelphia thanks to a lucrative career as a tax auditor that also took her to Italy for work. There she tasted the wines of iconic estates like Biondi Santi in Montalcino (Tuscany) and Pio Cesare in Barolo (Piedmont). Both of those and many others would become the inspiration for her shop.

With four visits to the annual Italian wine trade fair Vinitaly in Verona under her belt, she’s become a seasoned pro in selecting wines from small, under-the-radar estates. And her wines are now beginning to appear on some of the best Italian wine lists in the city.

Tuscany and Latium (Lazio) are going to be the focus of her upcoming buying trip. We can’t wait to see what she comes back with!

Congratulations and thanks to Mary Anne for making Houston an even better place to find and drink great Italian wine!

Find her on Facebook here.

See this Houston Chronicle profile of Mary Ann here.

TuttiLili Wines and Specialty Foods
2421 Bartlett St.
Houston TX 77098
(832) 284-3808
Google map

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