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Beau Co Wine

Crazy for Cabs?

For many, fond memories conjure images of the people you love sitting around a table, laughing and telling stories, sharing a meal, and enjoying time together.  Susan Beaudry recalls those warm gatherings, remembering the enjoyment she gets out of a meal and a great glass of wine.  It started as just a passion, but over the years Susan’s passion for wine grew into a business.

“I traveled in my corporate career and had to eat out often,” Susan says.  “I was always taken to the client’s nicest restaurant.  Every place was beautiful, but I was craving a different type of cuisine; I wanted regional, hole-in-the-wall food.  Those authentic experiences changed the game for me.”

Once home, Susan would try to recreate the food she ate during the week; she cooked so much that she began hosting dinner parties, and pairing wine with food became a natural addition to the weekly dining events.  Soon after, Susan opened her restaurant Main Street Station in Chester.

When her daughter, Isabel, became school age, Susan thought, I can’t be at the restaurant all night if Isabel’s gone all day.  So, Susan returned to corporate life, directing the annual corporate fund at Tanglewood for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and later joining the Springfield Symphony Orchestra as Executive Director.  Once again, Susan’s entrepreneurial spirit began gnawing at her, so after six years of leading the Symphony, Susan made the leap and jumped into the wine world with two feet!

In the summer of 2021, Susan founded Beau Co Wine.  Susan imports wine from around the world to her Westfield facility and distributes it to restaurants and package stores throughout Western Massachusetts.  

“I wanted to time my departure from the Symphony carefully and ensure that Isabel was OK with me giving this business my all, and she told me to go for it!  My early interest was out of fun, developed more professionally through the restaurant, and now more formally as I’ve taken rigorous wine courses.  I’m poised to start making a name for Beau Co. Wine.”

Susan’s goal is to support local food pantries to make sure every family has the opportunity to celebrate their love and time spent.  Her family of entrepreneurs is behind her – “My family loves to drink wine, so they’re very encouraging!”

Beau Co Wine is a small, women-owned business, representing other small businesses.  “These vineyards are boutique, family-owned, multi-generational operations, and we are putting their wines into small, local establishments.  We want to honor the hard work of the people who’ve created business for all of us.”

Beau Co Wine’s website beaucowine.com is coming soon!  You can reach Susan at beaucowine@gmail.com.

DRINK

Tip #1: The wine world can make tasting wine so complicated that it feels intimidating.  I can love the wine because of the peppery, spicy palate, but if you’re a riesling drinker, that taste isn’t for you, and who cares! Don’t worry about the notes; you have to enjoy and have fun drinking the wine! 

Tip #2: Stretch your palate and try something new; you may start to form an appreciation.  Think of the wine you're drinking as a piece of art you're viewing – you’re going to get something out of it that’s different from another person.  Experience wine openly without judgment.

VINEYARD STORIES

Bastide a vineyard in the Côtes du Rhône region of the south of France: Vines planted by the Knights Templar, who were there to protect a religious pilgrimage.

Yorkville Cellars, northern California: Longest running organic vineyard in the country.

Pinotage grape: Stellenbosch University Professor of South Africa grafted vines, sewed seeds from the grapes that grew, and created a new grape.

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