DOWNTOWN DELAND · THE SHOP THAT BECAME A GATHERING
The Elusive Grape: How DeLand Gets a Living Room
The Elusive Grape began with the intention of being a wine shop. The story of how it became a place to stay is a good DeLand story: a person’s experience, a practical change of plan and a town ready to make the result its own.
By Robert Urban · PaperBoat Media
Bill Budzinski brought a history with him
A 2010 profile based on a conversation with owner Bill Budzinski traced his wine background to the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, where he took advantage of sommelier training in 1987. Work in St. Thomas and DeLand restaurant ownership followed before the Grape opened in 2003.
That sequence gives the business a human starting point. Knowledge collected in different places found a home downtown. A proprietor’s earlier life can become part of what a town gains when a new door opens.
I like knowing that experience sits behind an approachable place. The guest can enjoy an easy evening while the person shaping it has years of learning to draw on. I return to that balance in how a wine bar makes room for both curiosity and expertise.
An unexpected turn toward staying
The same profile describes an opening selection of about 100 wines and an initial focus on retail. Property improvements required during licensing helped lead Budzinski to pursue an on-premises license as well.
It is a revealing detail because the shape of a business often develops through practical decisions. A shop can become a place to spend time. The relationship changes when a customer has a reason to remain, talk and encounter other people.
Wine gives that gathering a common subject without demanding that it be the only subject. Someone can be fascinated by a bottle’s origin. Someone else can simply be glad the group found a place to meet.
A living room is made by its people
The Grape’s long-used identity as DeLand’s living room describes a particular achievement. A living room is a setting people can make personal. The occasion does not have to be elaborate for the time together to matter.
A downtown gathering place can hold several kinds of evening at once: a catch-up, a celebration, a conversation that discovers its subject along the way. The room’s character helps, but the people give those occasions their meaning.
What I appreciate is the combination of care and ease. A business can take its subject seriously while leaving guests room to enjoy themselves in different ways. That is a generous use of expertise.
The relationship reaches past one glass
A bottle chosen in a local shop can eventually appear at somebody else’s table, carrying the memory of where it was found. A gathering place can travel through the recommendations people make to friends.
That movement connects the Grape with the surrounding downtown. Cress has its own story of hospitality and stewardship; Abbey Bar gives another specialized enthusiasm a local home. Their differences make DeLand’s social life more interesting.
The Grape’s particular contribution grew from the meeting of wine knowledge and the opportunity to stay awhile. The business began with bottles. The town helped give it the associations of a room.
Bill Budzinski’s earlier experiences matter to this story, and so do the people who made the Grape familiar. Together, they explain how a wine business can acquire a place in a town’s sense of belonging.
Questions about this place
Who is behind The Elusive Grape’s DeLand story?
Owner Bill Budzinski brought wine and hospitality experience to the business, which began in 2003. A 2010 interview describes its evolution from an intended retail shop toward a place to gather.
Why is The Elusive Grape associated with DeLand’s living room?
The phrase describes its identity as a familiar downtown gathering place. Wine supplies a shared interest, while the people who spend time there give the room its personal meaning.
Continue exploring Volusia County Stories.