Chantell Laing and Adam Geffner, Vintner's Circle Easton Franchise Owners

Q: Chantell and Adam — How did you become involved with Vintner's Circle?

We were out walking our two German Shepherd dogs one afternoon and Adam decided he wanted to check out a local coffee shop that was opening in a strip mall near our home. We happened to walk past a shop front with "Winemaking" on the window; curious about the concept, Adam ventured in and was warmly welcomed with “Do you enjoy wine?” and a glass. We were skeptical at first about the quality of wine that can be made in seven weeks from pre-pressed juice kits, but were amazed to find that the wines we sampled were truly excellent.

We signed up to make a batch of Argentine Malbec and we had so much fun making the wine that we couldn’t wait to take our twenty-eight bottles home. We were already planning on making our second batch when we found out Chantell was pregnant, so we put it on hold until after our daughter was born on Christmas Eve 2008.


We came back in the New Year and this time we brought a good friend to make a batch of Chateau du Roi and a New Zealand Gewürztraminer. It was during this time that Adam approached David to discuss franchise opportunities on Long Island on behalf of his step-mom, who also thought it was a great concept and enjoyed the wine that we brought her. We found out that the Easton store was available for purchase; our initial thoughts were "nice idea but what an earth do we know about owning or running a small business?" However, at this time the company Chantell worked for announced it was being acquired. We decided maybe this was the right opportunity for us after all, and that it would allow Chantell to walk away from Corporate America and embrace the wine lifestyle and have the flexibility and time to spend with our daughter Evelyn.

So on July 3rd, 2009 we bought the Easton franchise store and although it has been a steep learning curve it has been a lot of fun and something that we are both passionate about. We have enjoyed working with David and the franchise team, as well as meeting the new franchisee owners and being part of a young and fun team.

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