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 Those who don’t know much about wine but know what they like, may feel right at home in the Decatur wine bar Tastings.
“Here, there’s no such thing as having the right or wrong palate,” noted Kelly Resignola, who owns the Decatur Tastings with partner Deb Lickhalter. “Whatever a customer likes is a good choice. There are no wine snobs here.”
For those who aren’t sure what they like or would like to see what other wines might suit their fancy, Tastings has a high-tech way of allowing customers to sample a number of choices. Guests purchase pre-paid electronic cards that allow them access to the self-serve equipment.
With the card a customer can choose to dispense a one-ounce taste of the wine, a six-ounce full serving or a three-ounce half serving. Full bottles of all the selections are available for purchase as well. The cards don’t expire and “remember” what the card-holder ordered before even if the customer recalls only that he liked a wine, but doesn’t know its name.
More than 100 wine varieties are available at price points that range from $12 a bottle to around $200 a bottle. Resignola also said she can special order any wine not in stock.
“The less expensive wines are all good values,” she said. “I taste every wine that we sell. I won’t sell a wine I don’t like.”
“We hold no prejudice as to whether our wines come from large, prominent vineyards or from best-kept-secrets in remote areas of wine country,” Lickhalter states in a news release. “Many of our wines are rated quite well in popular wine magazines. But we also have sought out a few of the unheralded, small producers who create gems year after year.”
Those oenophiles who are interested in learning more might want to stop by on a Wednesday evening, when experts are on hand to provide a little wine education.
Tastings is a less than three-year-old franchise that originated in Florida. There are currently six stores in operation and the one in Decatur is the second in the Atlanta area. The franchising company projects that there will be 200 franchised Tastings stores by 2011.
Resignola and Lickhalter both left the corporate world in pursuit of second careers that focused on their interests.
“We knew that we like wine and we like people. Hospitality seemed like a natural choice,” Resignola said. “We decided that a wine bar would be the right thing for us, but, while we both had business experience, neither of us had experience in the hospitality industry.”
When Resignola and Lickhalter discovered Tastings, a franchise offering that was close to their concept, they decided that a franchise was the way to go.
While wine is the dominate theme at Tastings, the establishment also offers a selection of beers, martinis and soft drinks. In addition, Tastings’ offers a variety of food choices, including pizza and selections on a tapas-style menu.
Tastings Wine Bar and Retail Shop is located at 335A West Ponce de Leon Avenue in Decatur.
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