The Winery is located in the Historic district of St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the United States. Their vineyard is located in Clermont, which is also in Florida, with the wine being produced at the Winery. I will link the website at the end of this post.

We went on the tour, which consisted of a short film about the vineyards and manufacturing process followed by a tour of the wine making facility, and then to the wine tasting. We were able to sample about twelve different wines of numerous types, and found a new favorite red (their Vinters Red) in the process.

The tour and tasting are both free, and they have a great gift shop. Of course, they also sell their wines, and I bought a bottle (it cost only $9.00 USD, which is a great price).

They have an outdoor, open air cafe upstairs on the roof, which we visited but didn’t have anything at. They had live jazz music, and we were able to stand out there and observe a beautiful view of the city from that vantage point.

Come to find out, I can get the Vinters Red at my local Publix grocery store for the same price! So I am able to enjoy it any time I want.

The Winery was one of the highlights of my last trip to St. Augustine, and I cannot wait to visit again.

Link: San Sebastian Winery

The only unpleasant thing I recall was the store’s assistant manager (who later became manager) and I had our differences, but I only worked with her maybe one day per week, so she and I were able to coexist. The funny part? About a year later (I had quit to go to college in Massachusetts), during the summer when I was back home, I started dating a local boy. His older brother was dating that very same former manager! Thankfully, I only ran into her once during that time, and we basically avoided each other.

But I digress.  I loved working at that job, and in a mall (perfect for an 80s mall-punk like myself!), so much.  I worked at a B.Dalton for a few months in 1990, but it didn’t come close. I loved the liberal staff (even our token Republican was willing to hear us all out), and I recall how we would sit behind the counter and talk and flip through books during slow times. It was a great situation for a seventeen year old who was trying to still find herself, and I hated it when I had to quit to go to college.

Lauriat’s Books went bankrupt in 1999, even though I was in Florida then and missed it happening since they were a Northeastern chain. It still remains my favorite mall bookstore as far as memories go.

Link: Cash-Strapped Lauriat’s Inc. to Liquidate Stock, Publishers Weekly, 6/14/1999

I’m just trying to figure out the best way to promote this blog, since it looks as if most link exchange programs want JavaScript enabled, and that won’t work here. So any ideas would certainly be appreciated! I don’t necessarily need to make money off my blog so much as get people to actually read it.

I have been looking at web sites about malls, amusement parks etc. that I went to as a child, and what has happened to them now. Most of it is depressing…still, I think it would make for some interesting posts!

Now, to hunt down some new blogs to read. I really don’t read enough of them and tend to stick to news sites!

I am on a Blur kick lately. Not sure why, but I am. I work early tomorrow and I wish I didn’t have to. Meh.