A local paint and sip studio, Sauvignon Paint!, recently decided to simplify their business model and cut out the painting aspect of operations in order to focus solely on serving wine.
“When it came down to it, all our patrons really loved to drink,” says the owner, Michelle Wan. “They could pretty much take it or leave it with the painting. And frankly most of them sucked at it so we figured, why waste all that canvas?”
“I know the point is that people aren’t trained artists and they all have to paint the same thing,” says trained artist and former employee, Lindy Nutt. “But everyone was getting really bored by the second glass and just wanted to drink.”
“We had a lot of fun,” added Nutt. “You don’t need the wine, if you ask me, but according to everyone else, that’s actually all you need.”
The canvas storage and display area of the shop, formerly covered in an array of nearly identical paintings of a large mushroom with a prancing horse in the background, now stores a selection of the region’s finest wines.
“I feel like the wine selection has gotten a lot better since that became the focus,” says loyal patron Emily Hund. “Before they’d kinda make you serve yourself from a big jug and I kept accidentally dipping my paintbrush in the wine. Now there’s table service, linens on the table – you know, somewhere you’d actually want to spend time.”
“It’s really a relief actually,” says Wan, whose business has doubled this month. We’re even thinking about adding a cheese selection and putting real art on the walls.”
