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Wine Bar Owner

Culinary: The Local Vine, Seattle, WA
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**The Local Vine Wins The Luxist Awards' Readers' Choice Award for Best Wine Bar!**

If the clinking of wine glasses is music to your ears and wine culture makes you cheer, consider owning your own wine bar.

When you take a VocationVacations® dream job holiday with wine bar retailers Sarah Munson and Allison Nelson, owners of The Local Vine, you’ll learn all the pleasures of the wine business from two wine lovers who understand how to make a business work.

The Local Vine is a place where customers can hang out, coffee house style, while learning about wine or just enjoying wine as it’s paired with small plates of food served. The wine list includes more than 100 wines by the glass, showcasing wines from the Pacific Northwest and California but integrating wines from around the world. Selections range from $4 to $485 a glass, offering a selection of value wines and hard-to-find wines from smaller wineries, as well as better-known labels.

“We source directly from many wineries, and vintners come to us for tastings,” says Allison. The acclaimed Jordan Winery was visiting The Local Vine for a tasting on the day of the interview for this write-up.

At The Local Vine, education is as much a part of their business as the wine itself. “Sarah and I have both done a lot of mentoring. By being VocationVacations mentors, we have an opportunity to extend what we do in a broader way,” shares Allison.

Sarah and Allison employ a divide and conquer philosophy to making their business work, without overtaxing either one of their passions for the business. Sarah is a seasoned leader in retail brand development, consumer marketing, and business operations. As the former general manager of Beauty.com and senior director of merchandising at Drugstore.com, she was responsible for approximately $50 million in revenue. She has also held leadership positions at Bumble and Bumble, among others.

Allison has launched and managed a number of companies and also has expertise in strategic management and finance. As co-founder and president of Bookmarks Publishing, she continues to participate as both shareholder and board member. She has also been the General Manager for a technology company with 750 employees, as well as an investment banker. Both Sarah and Allison have MBAs from Harvard Business School.

“Sarah is primarily responsible for day-to-day service and operations. I’m responsible for financials and back-end operations,” Allison explains. “It took us about a year to find the location for our store, write the business plan, and do testing with focus groups. We wanted a business design that was not only affordable, but replicable.”

At The Local Vine, Allison and Sarah’s replicable design is a tall order. “Our aspirations are nothing if not high. We seek to convey the highest levels of knowledge with regard to wine and winemaking, but without the air of exclusivity that so often afflicts the industry. Call us crazy, but we think it's doable,” says Sarah.

The two entrepreneurs chose the wine business because they share a passion for wine. Sarah, however, has taken her formal education to the next level, pursuing a masters degree in wine from the internationally renowned Wine and Spirits Education Trust.

Sarah is an experienced sommelier and is responsible for the educational wine program at The Local Vine. And while Sarah’s’ wine knowledge is at a world-class level, The Local Vine’s hallmark is wine education for all, offering classes that educate consumers on the basics of wine. “These classes have been very well received. Wine 101 is a very basic, no- stress class to learn the fundamentals of wine tasting and selections. Students taste, evaluate, and discuss. We’re also launching seminars focused on a particular wine appellation or style,” explains Allison.

While on your Wine Bar Owner VocationVacations® dream job holiday at The Local Vine with Sarah and Allison, activities will include some or all of the following:
  • Conducting at least two in-depth, professional distributor tastings
  • Analyzing quality, what will sell, what won’t sell, customer trends, etc.
  • Learning how to create an environment that invites in all levels of consumers without the feeling of exclusivity
  • Participating in strategizing various event/theme nights
  • Tutorial on the dos, don’ts and key learnings of opening and managing one’s own wine bar and retail store
  • Wine education, and how are there ancillary business opportunities.
The Wine Bar Owner Vocation Vacations® holiday at The Local Vine with Sarah and Allison includes:
  • Two days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a Wine Bar owner
  • The option to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post- VocationVacations career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
  • A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job coming to reality
  • Light lunches with your mentors

Available: All year based on mentor's availability with exception of holidays

Price: $1049 Per Person

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Suggested Accommodations

Ace Hotel

Hilton Hotel Downtown Seattle

(Not included in the price of your VocationVacations® dream job holiday.)

Other activities and Tourist Destinations while on your VocationVacations® adventure:

Reservation, Cancellation and Rescheduling Rules and Conditions:

Full payment of the VocationVacations dream job holiday is required to make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to 14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacations adventure cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases. In the US, Grounded Nomads, LLC and VocationVacations holidays encourage all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling. In the UK, Grounded Nomads, Ltd and VocationVacations holidays must require all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling and provide verification of such travel insurance to Grounded Nomads, Ltd.