Randall Horst, manager of the Vintage Cellar, has worked there for 13 years.
"They started carrying beer and wine as a side item," Horst said. "Eventually the wine and beer grew and grew and the seafood tapered off, so Keith, the owner, sold off the fish side and it went into being a gourmet shop with wine and beer."
For the avid wine drinker who's desiring a new taste, the store hosts wines from at least 25 different countries -- from each continent except Antarctica. As a local spot, the Vintage Cellar brings in both Virginia Tech students and Blacksburg residents alike.
"We have a lot of faculty; they are probably our single largest contingent," Horst said. "Students are too, but see, three-fourths of them aren't 21 yet. The students and faculty are the reason we are here, and they account for a large percent of our sales."
Sam Riley, a communication professor at Tech, tells his classes what the Vintage Cellar offers so they are aware -- and perhaps gain an interest in trying out some new wines or beer.
"It's the best place," Riley said. "We are lucky to have it."
When asked what are good suggestions for the newly-turned 21-year-olds who are trying out finer wines and beers that are not the local Bud, Miller or Coors, Horst said that the best way to find out what you like is to try it yourself.
"Fridays we do free beer tastings, and we have 850 types of beer, so most people don't realize there's that many types," Horst said. "You can come and taste those and figure out what you like."
Customers can also sample various types of wine for free. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. it offers seven different types of wines to try. This encourages people to figure out what types of wines they may or may not like, making their visit to buy a new wine a confident one.
"We encourage people to try it -- it's free," Horst said. "That way, you don't buy wines you don't like, cause we hate to have someone come in and say, 'Hey, this looks like a great wine; it had a great review' and then you hate it and you won't want to come back here again -- so we recommend you come in and try the wines for free first."
When thinking about favorites, both Horst and Riley agree that there is no easy way to choose just one.
"It depends on the occasion," Horst said. "I don't like to eat just one type of food, so I don't like to drink just one type of wine."
"There's so many of them," Riley said. "I could tell you my favorite dessert wine -- it's an Italian wine you can't get here called Torcolato; oh, it's absolutely nectar. I don't actually have a favorite. For whites, I like chardonnays, and I don't know if I have a favorite for red because there are so many incredibly good ones."
Tech offers various classes that center around wines and beer brewing. If you are in one of those classes, you most likely have seen the staff at Vintage Cellar at one point as a guest teacher or a guest speaker. The store's mission is not pure profit; it also offers wine education. For the poor college student, fear not -- wines are not as expensive as you may think. Sure there are the bottles ranging from $50 to $100, but there are many discount wines that are nearly as good.
"We have a large section of closeout wines -- wines that may have originally have been 10, 15, 20 or 30 dollars a bottle, and are on sale for 50 to 75 percent off," said Horst. "In the last week we probably sold 25 cases of wines that were under $5 a bottle, going down to $2.95 or $3.95."
If you wonder about the taste of the discount wines, they're not just cheap wines; but because of the vintage charge, the store gets a much better deal than normal on them. Many think there are rules regarding the drinking and pairing of wines. The general rule of thumb, for example, is just drink what you like. There is no actual rule, even though many people suggest trying white wines with chicken and fish, and reds with steak.
"There's no rule because to me wine is all about personal preference and what you like, and if you like something the critics say is wrong, there's nothing wrong with that," Horst said.
Many students have no idea the Vintage Cellar offers free tastings. Julia Nguyen, a senior psychology major, found it a neat idea.
"I didn't know about the tastings," Nguyen said. "It sounds interesting."
Nguyen, more of a beer drinker with the occasional wine thrown in, thinks that the tastings are a good idea, but the lack of advertising may also be a good thing for the store.
"It would get people to try something out and if they liked it they'd probably like it," Nguyen said. "But it's probably not good to advertise free beer on a college campus. It might not be the best image for them if they are trying to stay classy."
The Vintage Cellar is located on South Main Street in the Gables shopping center. Its free tastings are every Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for beer and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for wine.
"When I go in, there are always some students and a lot of geezers like myself," Riley said. "People who go look like they have a real good time, even though you have to show them the ID, but for myself I show them my hair for identification."
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