The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Message on a Bottle: Ken Corsello reads the label of one of the Joseph George Company's many specialty wines. The nearly 60-year-old wholesale company opened its first retail location in Willow Glen last week.

Joseph George goes retail after 57 years

By Cecily Barnes

A shop stacked with top-of-the-line, hard-to-find wines opened in Willow Glen last Thursday on Meridian Avenue. While this type of specialty wine store is something new to the area, the store's owners are not. The Joseph George Company has been a well-known wholesaler in the valley for years, run by three generations of George boys, all natives of San Jose.

"This has been a dream, and here I am standing in front of this sign," Bert George said in front of the new retail location on Meridian Avenue. "It brings up a great deal of emotion."

Bert George is the grandson of Joseph George, who bought out an existing tobacco company in 1940 and started the wholesale business. Joseph handed the company to his son, Glenn, who passed it along to Bert.

"I started at the age of 10, and I'll carry it on and give it to my daughter someday," George said. "We're very much a family operation."

Keeping it in the family, Bert George's wife, Cyndie, decorated the interior of the retail shop, complete with redwood wine racks, stucco yellow walls and a granite tasting counter. At the grand opening Sept. 3, District 6 Councilmember Frank Fiscalini cut a vine that stretched across the front door to welcome the wine store to the area and wished the George family luck. Nearly 40 people browsed the fine wine selections, tasting cheese and champagne.

"I wouldn't miss this day for anything," Fiscalini said. "What a marvelous legacy in a family. Many of us were privileged to know Joseph George, and I can't tell you how proud and honored I am that any problems Bert might have, I'll be the one he'll come to."

Wine-lovers and friends of the George family showed up to wish the family good luck in their transition from 57 years of wholesale to a continued business in retail.

"Now the public will be able to buy from us directly because we have a retail license," George said. "We have a full liquor license, which means people can taste wine in the store."

In addition to the retail store, the Joseph George company will do beverage catering for parties and company events on evenings and weekends. They will provide bartenders, fine wines and liquors.

"Most of the wholesale has been liquidated because we started negotiating the lease in November of last year," George said. "We have no retail stores like this in the area so I said, 'You know, if no one else is going to do this, I'm going to.' "

Willow Glen residents seem excited about having high-end wines available nearby.

"I enjoy merlots, and they have a very impressive selection of merlot," Willow Glen resident Dave Sandretto said. "I think the store is terrific."

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