The Wine Barn

One Friday afternoon a few years ago, the members of the Antonio's Wine Tasting Group were sitting around doing what we do best (drinking and talking) when the topic of The Wine Barn Grand Opening Tasting came up.  I did not know Andrew Montoya (owner of The Wine Barn) at the time but everyone said that he was a great guy and it would be a lot of fun so I decided to go.  As I negotiated the route from the I-4 exit to the location, I thought this guy had better be good because this truly was a destination location.  Andrew was manning the first table as you went into the store and was smilingly pouring for all comers while trying to explain the qualities of the array of wines on his pouring table.  A few days after the tasting my friend Steve E. called me and asked if I had noticed the 1996 L'Evangile in the store and indicated that it was listed at a very attractive price.  I called Andrew immediately and asked him to set aside a number of bottles for me and the dialogue which we had when I came by to pick the wines up convinced me that he was someone that consumers would enjoy buying wines from.

Andrew was born in Medellin, Colombia and came to the U.S. for the first time when he was five years old.  He returned to Medellin to attend middle school when he was 15 and during that time developed a lifelong love and appreciation of flavors while spending time in his mother's kitchen.  He was introduced to wines by a French family residing in Medellin and travelled to France to do vineyard work with one of their sons.

Rather than going into the family business in Medellin (printing and packing), Andrew came back to the U.S. and began his climb up the ladder with a tip-based job at Race Rock.  His love of wine led him to take a distance learning course in winemaking from UC Davis where he was introduced to the aroma wheel by its inventor Dr. Ann Noble.  This encounter was the catalyst that launched him on a path to develop a better understanding of the aromas and flavors in wine.  He sought to develop a nose for wines by buying the flavors in the aroma wheel and adding them to a base wine in order to detect how these flavors manifested in a wine.

During this time he became very interested in wine education and began writing a blog on wine and wine tasting.  Following reader queries, he listed some of his wines on the blog and was rewarded with some sales, leading him to posit that there was an opportunity for education-driven online wine sales. He tested this model by continuing to work during the day while doing order fulfillment and shipping during the evenings and on weekends.  He negotiated with the Florida Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco to gain a license to sell wines without having a physical presence -- a first.

After working the online model for a while, Andrew decided that he needed a brick and mortar facility.  He wanted something that was centrally located and that would not drive his overhead up dramatically.  He competes on giving his customer the best cost he can and high overhead plays havoc with that model.  The current location best met his criteria.  It has very high ceilings and is somewhat spartan.  The focus is on the wines rather than beautiful racks. Parker scores and reviews are provided for each wine in the store.

The team at The Wine Barn is one of the best wine retail teams in the metro-Orlando area.  They bring together a wealth of talent, a wealth of experience, and a knowledge of wines and wine drinkers that is unparalleled in the space.  Andrew's enthusiasm, knowledge, and constant smile is Irish-publike in drawing you in.  His love of Burgundies and his knowledge of Spanish and South American wines and wine regions places a customer in a good place. The quiet assurance of Gary Tupper, hardly raising his eyes from the computer screen but knowing exactly where you are and what you need, and always ready with a knowledgeable insight into the wine at hand.  And Fidel! What can I say.  Enjoy spending time with him.  Guy after my own heart in that all he wants to do is talk about wine.  Get a life Fidel.  The Wine Barn has replaced its clunky, old web site with a new version and Fidel is responsible for that initiative in addition to all web-based and electronic activities.

My introduction to The Wine Barn was a kickoff wine pouring.  That event was held in the store and, at the time, it was considered a big tasting.  Late last year I went to one of their tastings which spanned multiple tents in the parking lot and the driving areas outside the store.  In addition to these large events, the Barn puts on a number of small, tightly focused, high-profile tastings.  Two of the most recent (Clash of the Spanish Titans and Remoissenet) have been covered on this blog in previous posts.

Going forward, Andrew does not want to become a wine superstore.  He wants to bring wine education more centrally into focus in the overall venture.  He may place a mezzanine in the current structure -- the high ceilings would allow that -- to serve as an education locale.

Great guys.  Great prices.  Be careful of the sharp turn onto 34th street from Orange Blossom Trail; especially if you are coming from I-4 West.