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Highlands Wine Shoppe
Written By: Jenny King | Issue: 2017/05 - May | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography
Mountaintop Wine Shoppe has a new name and new managing partners. Davis and Tina Picklesimer have changed the name to Highlands Wine Shoppe but it’s still in the same great location.
Davis, a familiar face in Highlands, is a homegrown varietal, which you may gather from his last name. He remembers playing hide and seek with his childhood friend and now business partner, Jimmy Tate, next door at what was then Jimmy’s grandmother’s Phelps House. It’s now the Main Street Inn. Davis says, “If it weren’t for the generosity of Jimmy and Allison Tate, none of this would have been possible.”
Both Davis and Tina come from corporate environments and are thrilled to be working in such a close knit community.
“We are in the people business, we aren’t in the wine business,” says Davis. “Our goal is to enhance a person’s experience and we use wine, beer, and education to fulfill that.” They also host private parties where guests can enjoy a quiet place to visit and spend time with one another.
They understand wine can be intimidating and their goal is to make Highlands Wine Shoppe a non-threatening gathering place.
Tina is currently studying with the Sommelier’s Guild and says, “Trust me, I have a health care background and a Master’s Degree, but being surrounded by hundreds of people who have been in the industry forever, I felt completely ignorant. It’s a fun and challenging, but totally worthwhile, endeavor.”
Their Highlands School of Wine, which meets monthly, is a way to educate people about wine and will appeal to novices as well as those more steeped in oenology. It meets monthly and will consist mostly of seminars, but they say, “It’s going to be fun, not stuffy.”
Also on their event schedule are Wednesday Wine Socials where they will be serving from their appetizer menu.
New to Highlands Wine Shoppe is their craft beer section. Currently they have the Napa Wine Tasting and Preservation machines and will be adding the same technology for craft beers. With the explosion of breweries in North Carolina, they will be focusing on regional brews from Western North Carolina.
The Picklesimers encourage everyone to stop in and chat for a while to learn what changes they’ve made to our local wine specialty store. To find out more, visit them online at HighlandsWineShoppe.com or give them a call at (828) 526-4080. They’re located next to Main Street Inn on Main Street, across from Ace Hardware.
Cheers!
