Adventures and misadventures…

(warning: Long post that may not be entirely coherent)

OK, not really talked much about our Wine Shop at this point. I think a huge part of that is in the fact that we have spent so much time with it that it’s the last thing I want to write about, or think about beyond the typical hours spent therein. Now that the tourism season has begin to dwindle, and the economy is continuing to be tumultuous, I’ve got more time during the day than I want. So, today I’ll talk about work.

The premise of the wine shop is to carry as many of the nicer wine products up front and center from North Carolina in our shop as we have so many tourists from other regions. Additionally, we focus primarily on smaller boutique wineries with hand crafted products of exceptional quality at reasonable prices. Cheese has proven to be a nightmare though. The local cheese makers are predominantly making cheeses from goat’s milk, with a couple sheep’s milks cheese producers scattered about. However, most of their product is sold out the back door or in local farmers markets without having to deal with wholesale. That’s a bummer as I would love to have a more local flare with the cheese as I do the wine. So the world of cheese has been. I located a distributor over in Asheville, but soon stopped using them based on a couple of things, one they proved to be expensive and not very dependable. Secondly, and most importantly, I visited their shop while in Asheville; needless to say I didn’t even need to introduce myself to see what I needed to see. The place was horrid, run down and simply nasty. So, I have cheese sent from across the country to the shop.

Now, the name of the shop is fairly simple and straightforward; Christopher’s Wine & Cheese. Guess what I sell! Now guess how many people walk in look around and exclaim with a startled look, “This is a wine shop!” More common is the insistent inquiry, “Do you sell cheese?” (I always want to explain that the sign is there just to confuse people of lesser mental ability, but typically refrain.)

Now for some reason, people with creatures they call children insist on tormenting my soul. I am certain if I die and go to hell, I will discover it to be a day care center. It seems that people think it is ok for them to bring their beastly renderings from breeding into my shop and let them loose. The first week we were open bad parents arrived with a 13yo in tow; a 13yo female they just picked up from cheerleading camp. You know the perky little bitch want-a-be type that thinks it’s ok to practice handstands in the midst of wine displays because her bff is spotting her. And then mom decided she should cop an attitude when I mentioned (politely-ish) that this was inappropriate, especially as the table directly adjacent to her endeavors held 4 bottles of wine that I would be afraid to drink because of their cost. It truly would be a shame to pay for such wines and not get to drink them because her darling beast broke the bottle.

As for wall décor… we have a local artist that paints paintings who was looking to pull out of galleries to avoid the monthly and commission fees. We came to terms on a commission for each piece sold. Just this past weekend, in the snow a female walks in the door. As I ask if she needs help, she demands to see the owner of the shop. The first impression is “crap”, but I confess to being the Christopher of the shop. She then asks about “the featured artist” I explain we work with local artists that pass the jury for their art work and agree to my terms. She then produces two items she called art and insisted I place them in the shop.

My reaction was more of first, go take an art class evolving into wtf is that crap. Now, I’m pretty open to art and understand subjectivity of preferences. But honestly, if you’re art presents worse than paint by number… I cannot sell it. After she left, I asked the guy working with me if I was too far off base; he thought I was too nice. We concluded it was eastern Indian influenced by some really hard drugs. Picture amoebas on crack with yellow and pink dots and you have her work painted on glue down canvas in bad frames. Not the caliber of work we currently have; and I’m the jurist that approves what gets hung in the shop. I’ve even had to tell the artists we do use that some of their work can’t hang in my shop.

So, there are a few tales… I’ll try to collect my thoughts better next time and get some more info posted. If you’re heading our way hit me up and we’ll arrange some lodging at the inn and get you up to the shop to find a new wine for your sipping pleasure!