Announcing the announcing of the MARTA Wine Highway!
A few months back, I was speaking with the folks from Grape Anticipation / Inside Grape and we got joking about my love for public transportation and how I was determined to map out routes from my home in Midtown to my favorite ATL wine destinations [Restaurants, Retailers, our vast ITP Vineyards (?) ]-- Bart & Darrell dubbed the project the "MARTA Wine Highway". It has been on the back burner for awhile, but with some recent trips, it is time to make it official. Wine and public transportation in Atlanta will never be the same.
Beyond the desire to just keep it Dirty South, the MARTA Wine Highway comes in with a couple of objectives-
1. To reduce drinking and driving.
2. To connect and Map out ATL area premium wine destinations.
3. To reduce $ spent on gas, that can then be spent on wine.
4. To get lady Dirty off my back every time I ask her for a ride to tasting/dinner.
5. To promote ATL as world class wine destination rivaling Napa, Bordeaux, and Sioux Falls.
6. To get my second key to the city this week!
I started riding MARTA to wine dinners when I was running late for a dinner at ARIA. I had flown in late, and was faced with either hopping a cab to Buckhead during rush hour (which would have been $40+), or missing my dinner. The train didn't get close enough to ARIA, but the bus did. Sure, I'd still have to sit in traffic, but I'd rather pay $1.75 than $40. Bottles packed, breeze card in hand- The MARTA Wine Highway (MWH) was born.
Shortly after that- I ran into a similar situation with a dinner at Tasty China in Marietta. A cab was going to be freaky expensive, but with some orienteering skills I could map out the CCT (honorary member in the MWH) transfers and get my drink-on with my Szechuan.
A love (and sometimes hate) affair with the bus was born.
Riders of the MARTA Wine Highway need the following:
-Love of wine:
To put up with the MWH, you need to really love wine (or have a lot of time on your hands).
-Patience:
The MWH follows the deterministic rules of chaos theory and buses or trains sometimes just come when they come. Those dirty-a*# butterflies!
-Desire:
Desire to ride the MWH. The MARTA Wine Highway isn't always the easiest route. Driving yourself is- but you could kill somebody. I'd rather the bus kill somebody.
-Spirit of Adventure:
As a pioneer on the MWH. You will always have with a story. Your fellow diners may be rolling up in their Lambo's or parachuting in from their private jet. You got there on the bus!
-Backup Cab Fare:
Sometimes getting half-way there on the MWH is the best you can do.
So ATLiens- get prepared for an upcoming assault ofsuper-sexy media, merchandising, branding, and all git out! Offshore accounts have been opened, a street team is in place, buses are going to be wrapped (or maybe just tagged), a theme song in the works... The MARTA Wine Highway is going to be huge!!!!!
