Wine Store Aims to Create Neighborly Atmosphere

When Bryan Gauthier decided to open a wine shop, he had a clear goal in mind: to create a neighborhood store for amateurs and connoisseurs alike.

Gauthier, 35, opens the today, hoping to balance modernity with a small-town feel — just like Oakton does. Grand opening events are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

"While we're still in the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia, it's still a family community," Gauthier said. "I think that neighborhood feel is very important to people in Oakton. People want to say, 'My wine shop is in my town.'"

Oakton Wine Shop, located in Hunter Mill Plaza, is set up to take customers on a trip around the world, with bottles ranging from the $10 variety to collector wines. It will boast about 500 different selections of wine, 50 handcrafted beers and about 40 different cheeses and pâtés.

But he does not want people to walk into his shop and feel intimidated. He promises a knowledgeable staff, and plans to hold educational classes for both beginners and oenophiles for a cost of about $15 to $25. The shop will also host free tastings of both wine and food Friday and Saturday evenings.

"I don't buy anything I haven't tasted," said Gauthier, of The Plains. "Staff will be tasting all the wines that'll be coming in so they can recommend wines to customers with authority."

Gauthier learned how important it is for the owner and staff to understand the wine while working at a wine shop in McLean when he was younger. He has been in the wine business since he was 15, starting off sweeping floors and stocking shelves for a shop near his home.

"I wanted a car, so my dad said, 'Great! Get a job,'" Gauthier laughed. "It was a place close to home where I could work without having a car."

He continued to work at the shop after high school. When he turned 21, the owner educated him on everything she knew about wine.

"I fell in love with everything about wine right away," Gauthier said. "It's a passion. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do."

Soon enough he was traveling to California several times a year as a wine buyer. He moved on from that McLean shop to be a wine manager in the restaurant business, which took him to New Jersey.

Tired of the restaurant business, he moved back to Virginia last year and almost immediately started formulating an idea to open a wine shop.

"Hopefully this is the last place I ever work," Gauthier said. "If I have a family, hopefully I can pass this on."

As much as he wants the store to feel like his home, he wants it to feel like the neighbors' home even more. Though all sites are in development, he plans to rely heavily on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to connect with his customers. He plans to make the store's website interactive, allowing shoppers to create wine wish lists. When customers buy something, the shop's computer system can log the purchases to both help them recommend wines and help customers reference past purchases to refresh their memory on a past favorite wine.

"When people visit the store I want them to think, 'Wonderful selection of wines, great staff, beautiful store. And a place they can call their own,'" Gauthier said. "I'm calling it Oakton Wine Shop instead of Bryan's Wine Shop because I want to have an association with this neighborhood. It is Oakton's shop."

GRAND OPENING SCHEDULE

Friday, 4-7 p.m.

Margot Blattman of Country Vintner will sampling wines from around the world.

Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Three separate tastings will take place where you can sample wines from France, Oregon and California:

• Olivier Duabrasse of Vinifrance Imports will have a selection of value wines, as well as a few of his wonderful burgundies.
• Andrew Hess of Roanoke Valley Wine Company will be onhand to taste several of his Oregon Pinot Noirs.
• Cindy Savage of Virginia Imports will offer California wines, some classics, and fun summer wines.

In addition, Oakton Wine Shop will be sampling the breads of Panorama, cupcakes from Sweet Bites Desserts and many cheeses.