by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
Crush, as in crushed grapes, is scheduled to open tonight on Park Street in Avondale, offering upscale “berry juice” for local wine connoisseurs.
Jeffrey Forrest and partner Erika Ware, proprietors of The Art of Eating gourmet catering, decided the spot was ideal for the concept.
“We wanted to capitalize on the whole Avondale thing,” said Forrest, a chef at White Oaks Plantation. “It’s a good neighborhood. We think it’s the kind of place that would support us and the people that live in Avondale are proud of living in Avondale and want to support businesses in Avondale.”
The couple was already renting a small section of the building to store inventory for their catering business when they opted to open the door to a larger market. Because they already had their packaging license, the transition was easy.
“The landlord offered us the whole space and we decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” said Forrest. “We’ll probably be doing our private dinners [The Art of Eating] out of here, too.”
Once the deal was made, Forrest and Ware set about preparing the 1,800 square-foot space for retail use. About one-third of the available space will be used for retail. All of the renovations, except those requiring a license, such as electrical work, have come from the elbow grease of the owners.
Wine racks, wall treatments, the main bar, cork flooring and the tile behind bar were all constructed by the owners and their families.
Ware’s aunt, Lindsay Smith, will manage the store during the day while Ware and Forrest juggle day jobs. Store hours are tentatively set for 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Crush’s specialty will be boutique wines, which are limited production bottles produced by small vineyard owners.
“A very high percentage of our wines you will only be able to buy here, nowhere else in Jacksonville, at least initially until people start asking for it,” he said. “We focus on serious wine makers who only make 5,000 bottles as opposed to say Beringer that makes 800 million cases of wine a year. Ours are not the ones you’d see in the grocery store. A lot of our wines are made with grapes people have never heard of before.”
Master sommelier Larry O’Brien from Orlando is acting as the shop’s consultant. He selected each bottle for their core list. (A master sommelier is a wine steward certified by the Court of Sommeliers. There are only a handful in the country.)
Having met through Forrest’s distributor, O’Brien encouraged Forrest to initiate the venture.
O’Brien will visit about twice a week and participate in the wine tastings.
Despite a less-than-favorable economic outlook, Forrest is banking on an upsurge in wine consumption both nationally and locally.
“Even now with the economy, people still buy wine because they see it as a simple luxury,” he explained. “They may not be able to afford to take a trip to France but they can buy a bottle of wine and feel like they’re really living it up. Plus the American Medical Association says red wine is good for your heart.”
Prices for most bottles range from $10-$20. The most expensive is a $40 bottle of champagne. Unlike many retail wine shops, Crush’s products will be arranged by the style of wine for ease of locating what pleases the palate, rather than by the origin and the grape variety (California Chardonnay, for example). Selections range from those that are light, crisp and clean to those that are rich, supple and heavy.
“It will make it easier for people that are unfamiliar with wine,” said Forrest. “This is not a store for ‘cork dorks.’ It’s going to be very friendly and pleasant. We want everybody to come in.”
Database information on customer preferences will be kept on file and
wine tastings on Friday nights are part of the business plan, too.
“Erika figures she could get more people in if they don’t have to work the next day,” he said. “Everybody else does them on Wednesday or Thursday.”
In the future, Forrest wants to have a lounge and open kitchen.
“We plan to turn it into a wine bar with jazz, blues and eventually a bistro,” said Forrest, adding he has already applied for a zoning variance.
How does a little wine shop compete with mega liquor stores conveniently scattered all over town?
“We deal strictly with craftsmen, artisan-type wines,” explained Forrest. “We’re a small, neighborhood boutique — not a chain. Plus, we have an extensive knowledge of wine and food paring. Our computer is set up with websites of most of our wines so you can get the history on the wine makers or anything you want to know about the wine.”
With two competitors nearby —The Wine Warehouse of Edgewood and The Grotto in San Marco, Forrest says getting the word out will be one of his biggest hurdles.
“Becoming known and getting people to make a special trip is a challenge,” he said.