Sisters develop wine rooted in taste and community
By Eva D. Coleman
Lifestyle & Culture Editor
Texas Metro News
Their synergy is evident. With five years separating them, the Dailey sisters, Shelly Clark and Brea Mathis, have a connection sparked from their parents’ union, also linking their thoughts as businesswomen and entrepreneurs. Their wine brand, S&B Cellars, is a continuation of their familial legacy.
Kenneth and Marcia Dailey of Denver, Colorado have been in each other’s lives longer than most married couples. As socialites, the divine chemistry that landed them on earth at the same time created a home that Shelly and Brea fondly remember.
“They’ve known each other since they were kindergartners and [have the] same birthday, love to entertain, and that’s kind of how we grew up, being around a whole bunch of people, laughter, family, friends and always in that entertainment space in Denver, Colorado,” Brea said.
The roots their parents put down strengthened the foundation for their lives.
“There’s a mountainous town called Evergreen, Colorado where we grew up as well,” Shelly added. “That’s where my parents decided to walk out on faith and purchase land in the mountains and they built a home; but the home that they built grew into a space that was available to the community.”
From church retreats, youth group sessions and more, the Dailey home served as a hub for social events. The sisters shared that even after they moved away as adults, upon return visits, it was still the gathering place.
“We would invite all of our friends and their families and everything would happen at that house, and it just poured, filled with love and people and energy and it just was a great space,” Shelly said. “You know those holidays where families are sitting around the table: Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, we always had someone at our table that did not belong to our family. So that, as a child, opened my eyes to know that you create family, even though you’re born into a family.”
Brea echoed the sentiment, sharing that the outpouring of love for their parents continues.
“We have so many people coming together to show them love as an appreciation of everything that they’ve done for the community. So, years later, we’re still coming home and seeing the extended family and meeting more people through them, just to show that we are that extension,” Brea said. “We do have a lot of cousins, a lot of brothers, a lot of sisters!”
Social gatherings at the Dailey home were like common ones, traditionally including food and drink. The family’s inclusion of wine was a progression over time.
“Because they’re entertainers, there was alcohol there or there were libations or some sort of fancy punch or something that was in the house that people could enjoy, whether it was alcoholic or not,” Shelly said. “I don’t remember wine always being there, but as we evolved, my parents evolved too. My dad started liking wine, and he would always say, ‘What should I order?’ And so, we got to this point where we would make sure each of us had a nice glass of wine when we would have dinner.”
The sisters have advanced degrees in business from the University of Colorado at Denver. For prior undergraduate studies, Shelly attended business school at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and Brea graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH. Brea’s affinity for wine grew from her international studies, including one semester at the University of Salamanca.
“I studied abroad in Spain and I remember my parents coming to visit when I was in college, and I was introduced to a number of types of varietals when I was there,” Brea said. “But, I remember my dad coming and saying, ‘Oh my God I want to try this and I want to try that,’ and so I think that that was kind of his introduction to say, ‘You know what? This wine thing is something,’ because I remember from then on, it was a part of a conversation of ‘Hey, you know, what do you think about this wine?’ or ‘Let’s try that.’”
Their father’s growing enthusiasm and palate of exploration led to something greater.
“We kind of matured into understanding what the wine culture really brings and what it’s about, and it’s a beautiful thing,” Brea said.
Having a love for something and developing a brand are vastly different. The foundation of developing and maintaining a business has long been established in the Dailey family.
“My mom and dad are also entrepreneurs so we’ve seen that over the years as we grew up,” Brea said. “But, we also as a family had a franchise as well, a few years ago. We sold it shortly after the pandemic. And, I think we all… we both had an itch still to do something.”
They owned three Smoothie King franchises in the Dallas area. Having learned a lot from the beverage industry, they’ve transitioned from brick and mortar to develop and distribute S&B Cellars wines.
“All our lives we’ve been known as Shelly & Brea. So the “S” stands for Shelly and the “B” stands for Brea,” Shelly said. “We wanted to make sure that we kept it intertwined to represent our relationship as sisters, as family, which then could extend to the embodiment of our brand.”
Their initials as the brand was an easy decision.
“We can just keep it simple and the brand will speak for itself because we will continue to communicate and share with community and kind of market and get our name out there and that legacy will speak for itself,” Brea said. “We wanted to do something simple so that we could play with the names as the company grows.”
Red and white wines are the first offerings for S&B Cellars. They’re presently available at Total Wine stores across 11 locations in Dallas and Houston.
“We have a petite sirah grape and then we have three white grapes that make the semi-sweet white blend,” Brea said. “Those grapes are from the 23 harvest and it took two years for the grapes to harvest for us to get our license through the government for us to get
our labeling. So, we officially got everything completed in July of 2025.”
They are forever open to being educated throughout their wine journey.
“But I think, getting it out and starting to distribute and learn, it didn’t happen right away,” Shelly said. “We’re still in the process of making sure that we can find the right outfit, you know, ‘Where’s our wine gonna display,’ so, I think it’s gonna be an ever-moving process.”
They’ve taken a chance on Texas.
“One of us lives in Texas and we were reading about how the Texas High Plains grape is an up and coming kind of best kept secret, and we tasted the wine, and we were like, ‘You know what, we don’t know too much about this but there’s something to be said about Texas grapes’” Brea said.
The expansion of their brand to other states is considered with careful deliberation.
“We’ll probably work on both Georgia and Colorado over this next year,” Shelly, who lives in Georgia, said. “There’s a lot to learn about licensing and we want to make sure we’re following what the government has asked us to do as an alcohol beverage company, and so, it takes time.”
Shelly shared that she’s always had an affection for wine and that she shared with Brea that she wanted to do something in the wine industry. Their sibling superpowers often combine to make their visions a reality.
“We always dream together,” Brea said. “We may collaborate and talk about it and it may sound like it’s an argument, but we are always throwing ideas back and forth.”
In addition to wine distribution, the sisters shared that they have real estate ventures as well in the United States and abroad.
“There’s a song and dance between the two of us, always,” Brea said. “But, it’s always something that comes up.”
Giving back and helping others develop their dreams is a priority for them as well. Shelly emphasized that “as much as we learn, we want to pour into somebody else, always.”
“We definitely both know that we want to give back to entrepreneurs, especially women,” Shelly said. “People want to have their own thing and we want everyone to know that you can do whatever you set your mind to, but you have to set your mind to do it and know that it’s a process and a journey.”
With their upbringing in social settings combined with their business experiences and expertise, their foray into wine involved research and the thoughts of others.
“We work with a crush facility called Sages Vintage and they’re here in Nacogdoches, Texas, and we found them during our research,” Shelly said.
From crush in the Texas High Plains to table, they gathered family and friends to serve as taste testers.
“When they tasted that petite sirah, how they described the taste was, ‘Oh my God I think of Christmas. I think of friendship. I think of warmth.’ So they actually started to embody the emotional… it wasn’t a taste, but it was a feeling,” Brea said. “And we’re like, ‘Ooh, this is cool.’ So we were like, ‘We have to have that.’ Because I had never experienced wine to be able to do that.”
Brea added the response to the semi-sweet white blend “was just one that resonated with basically non-wine drinkers and wine drinkers. So, it was our palates but we also kind of sealed the deal with people we know and got some of their suggestions as well.”
Some of Shelly’s core business advice includes, “Be yourself because that’s what will shine through and that will carry you through all the ups and downs.”
It was important that they were pleased with the varietals they offer.
“And wine is individually your palate,” Shelly said. “Everybody’s palate is different. So, we can’t create a wine that’s gonna be acceptable to everybody, but we definitely try to make sure it’s acceptable to us.”
Wine blogger Diane Roberts recently attended an S&B Cellars wine tasting event at The Wine Authority in Richardson, Texas. Of the two varietals, she had a clear favorite.
“I like the red,” Roberts said. “I like a drier wine, but I appreciate the white because it’s got a little bit of sweetness for people who like that sweetness, but it’s not overly sweet; but I love the red. I love a sirah.”
There’s an art to wine making and drinking. As wine drinkers, Roberts hopes people focus on their unique beliefs.
“I think what’s most important in the artistry is your palate, an individual’s palate,” Roberts said. “I always tell people, ‘Don’t judge yourself by what other people tell you they like.’ It’s okay to get recommendations, it’s okay to listen to wine experts, but at the end of the day it’s your money and what brings you joy. And so for me, I drink what brings me joy and I want other people to also.”
The Dailey sisters venture with S&B Cellars is grounded in faith at work.
“Have a little faith in that thought in that action and don’t be afraid to fail because you learn from your mistakes and you learn from your failures,” Brea said. “And, through those actions and those pivots and that faith walk… you know you may think you want it to be a certain way but God has a way of maneuvering you to make it to be an excellent thing.”
The lessons learned lead to the bottled-up results.
“That whole process also emulates what our business is about, what our brand is about,” Shelly said. “So it all came together.”
As customers purchase and pour wines from S&B Cellars, there’s so much behind the brand. According to the Dailey sisters, the measurement of success is “one bottle at a time.”
“I think what measures the success is how people respond to our product and what makes the community happy…what makes them proud,” Brea said. “How do we make an impact? And, if we can finally say, ‘Well done’ we have changed somebody’s life because we have brought people together and we have made them feel at home and made them feel comfortable.”
Brea added, “Even if you’re not a wine drinker, just the ambience and the experience of coming together…if we can say we’ve done that, I say we’ve been successful.”
