Car Drives Into Wine Watch, Thousands of Dollars of Wine Destroyed

Boutique wine store Wine Watch sustained damage to its tasting room when a driver crashed his Mercedes straight into the business.

WSVN reports that the driver, an unnamed 28 year-old was taken to Broward Health Medical Center with serious but not life-threatening injuries, after Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue had to cut him our of his car. The man, who was said to have been going 40 miles per hour at the time of the crash, is being charged with reckless driving.

According to Wine Watch manager, Ward Holt, the incident happened around 11 p.m., after the store was closed for the evening. Wine Watch employees were notified by their alarm company, and arrived to find a most of the custom-built tasting room gone — along with some very rare wines. The owner of Wine Watch, Andrew Lampasone, was out of town when the accident occurred.

Holt said he estimates the dollar amount of the lost wine to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, adding "we have a lot of rare wines in that tasting room."  Holt did say that that was just part of the store's inventory and Wine Watch is open for business after cleaning up some of the damage.

"We worked all night and our landlord sent over a crew to help clean up. Luckily, we're able to stay in business and no one was seriously hurt. 

Holt said that the accident happened at a part of the road that meets train tracks and people are always having near misses at that part of the street. "Hopefully, maybe the city can do something about the roads here."

Wine Watch remains open for business, although some planned tastings may be postponed. Call the store at 954-523-9463 to confirm any scheduled tastings.