When the Barrel Runs Dry

“You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It wont happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.” --Joel Olsteen

“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f*** on.” --Tupac Shakur

This image was taken at LeoGrande Winery in Forest, Virginia. The background is of the Peaks of Otter, which is only a 30 minute ride from this location.


As some of you might now know, I am not in Florence anymore. I have moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where I am going to pursue my hopes of working closer to wineries.

Of all the jobs that I have wanted (without working as a winemaker) have, in some form, required that I have an MBA or Bachelor's in Business. Well, unfortunate for me that when I went to South Carolina (Go Cocks) that I wanted to be an English and Poly Sci major so that I could corner the market in research and writing to prepare myself for law school. Now, I'm sure that many of you have heard me tell the story of how I fell in love with my job in wine, so I won't bore you with it now.

All of this having been said, I am waiting for classes to start and trying to find a job (anyone? come on...). In the meantime, if I come across any wines that are "must haves" or even "must avoids," I will do my best to keep you informed. Luckily, I am on the southern end of some of the best wines on the east coast, ranging from here in Lynchburg to Charlottesville, which have a few things in common: not only were both areas home to Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville has Monticello and Lynchburg has his summer home: Poplar Forest), but they are similar in growing conditions.

Virginia will always come out strong with the wines she has to offer, but always keep a keen eye toward Cabernet Franc and Barbera for reds and Chambourcin, Seyval Blanc and Riesling for whites. The more I taste, the more I will tell you about it...

Florence, I will miss you as well as all of the close friends that are there. As for wine, Micky Finn's still has and will continue to have great wine selections as long as people like Bryan Holt, Tom Smith and Rick Havekost are there. They gave this guy a chance when no one else would and I can look back and say that we did some great business together and together, we raised the awareness of wine, beer and shopping local. I pray that you keep doing this... as always, demand the absolute best from them and they will step up and meet your need!

In the meantime, I hope that you take the time to read what I will post in the future as well as what I have posted in the past.

Until next time,
Cheers!