Bill Curtis, Owner of Tastings

When people think about wine, they often think  about the different flavors of wine, the cost of each bottle, the origin of the wine, or  how the wine is made. Last Sunday, I interviewed Bill Curtis, the owner of Tastings, a combination winery and a restaurant located on the Downtown Mall since 1990. I have known Curtis since I was a young boy because my dad and I would eat lunch at his restaurant every Saturday, until the pandemic forced it to close for several months.

Curtis told me about his beginnings in wine, “It was an epiphanic moment after buying two bottles of wine that were similar in taste and different in cost. The cheaper bottle had a better taste and that gave me the idea to sell, buy, and discuss different opinions about wine. Curtis told me about what it was like when he first opened Tastings. “It was what felt like the right thing for me to do,” he said. “It was like eastern philosophers said ‘follow your light’, and it helped with my love of wine.”

His journey with Tastings also came with some challenges, which is always normal for a business. “Being in a business like this is always financially demanding and demands a constant inventory. Single-purpose stores like Tastings back in 1990 didn’t have much longevity,” he said, so he decided to make Tastings both a winery and a diner, and that meant he needed employees with restaurant experience and winery experience.  He then mentioned the impressive longevity of the restaurant even with competing businesses with similar concepts during the peak of the pandemic. “Staying in business, considering when you have a business that is a buzz in the community especially when there are new businesses that open every year,” he said. Curtis and his restaurant have been positively reviewed by newspapers and magazines, like The New York Times. When asked about the positive publicity, he said “It feels like I’ve done a good service and long-term sophistication to this business, having people buy wine in Charlottesville rather than go to Washington D.C. and buy wine there.” Curtis said, “with a by-product of following your light and using that to inspire people. Doing so has inspired people to buy wine in Virginia more reasonably.”