The Urban Grape was founded in 2010 by husband and wife team TJ and Hadley Douglas. Starting with a small store in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, The Urban Grape soon developed into a thriving business hub in the South End neighborhood of Boston. Over its first decade, The Urban Grape has expanded to include Urban Affairs, a wine tasting and event company; Urban Cellar, a fine and rare cellar stocking and management company; and The Urban Grape Wine Studies Award for Students of Color, an endowed fund at Boston University with the goal of increasing access to and careers in the wine and beverage industry for BIPOC. TJ and Hadley are also the co-authors of the wine education book Drink Progressively, A Bold New Way to Pair Wine and Food (and the proud parents to their boys, Noah and Jason!).

The Urban Grape is known for being the first store in the world to utilize the Progressive Scale, a unique system of organizing wines by their body, rather than varietal or region. The store concept is simple - DRINK PROGRESSIVELY - and is so popular with novice and experienced wine drinkers alike that The Urban Grape has become one of the most successful independently-owned wine stores in the US.