Founded in 2016 by Jennifer McDonald, Jenny Dawn Cellars has grown from the dream of an at-home winemaker into Wichita’s first urban winery. In 2017, Jenny Dawn Cellars established a working partnership with a wine facilitator in Napa, California. In 2019, Jenny Dawn Cellars opened a winery and tasting room in the heart of downtown Wichita located at Union Station. Jennifer now crafts and bottles her wines on-site, with grapes and juice sourced from the finest growers in California and Kansas.
As of June 2020, Jenny Dawn Cellars has 11 handcrafted wines. Union Station Chardonnay, Black Locomotive Crimson Cabernet, Red Caboose Dry Rosé, 2019 Rosé Wine (Watermelon), 2018 Chardonnay, 2017 Pinot Noir, 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2017 Sweet Red Wine (Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah Blend), Wichita Passion (Blackberry Wine) and Wichita Moments (Apple Wine). Jenny Dawn Cellars winery and tasting room at Union Station offers charcuterie and small bites, venue rentals, private wine tastings, wine locker memberships, and Winuecation - a monthly educational class.
Founder, Managing Partner, and Winemaker
Jennifer McDonald is a successful entrepreneur, human resources, and recruiting professional who has spent the last 12 years developing and leading strategic initiatives for some of Wichita’s largest employers. She has leveraged her business acumen and leadership skills from the corporate world into the wine industry. She has spent the past six years turning her passion for wine and her love of the unique ability wine has to bring people together into an urban winery vision for expanding both depth and diversity into downtown Wichita.
Jennifer has a Master’s Degree in Agribusiness from Kansas State University. Jennifer has developed and produced research data on consumer wine preferences. She is an award-winning winemaker. Her wines have received Best in Class, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Texas International Wine Competition, New World International Wine Competition, and Kansas Grape Growers and Winemakers Association.
She has received the Innovations in Business Award presented by Young Professionals of Wichita and was also recognized as one of Wichita’s top 40 people in business under age 40 by the Wichita Business Journal. She is a part of the Pipeline Fellowship and also completed Wichita State University and e2e’s collaborative start-up accelerator program, Launch Prep. She manages an urban orchard and teaches a monthly wine class called Wineucation. She manages the winery strategy and vision.