TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A player in the legislative process who first arrived in Tallahassee as a staffer during the 1990s Republican Revolution and has since become a preeminent lobbyist, Gus Corbella is expanding his resume once more, adding "certified sommelier'" to it - and opening a wine shop in the shadow of the Florida Capitol.

Corbella's Poco Vino opened for business in late October, just in time for a series of "committee weeks" that are bringing legislators back to the Capitol for hearings in the runup to the 2022 legislative session. Many are used to being lobbied by Corbella on matters of policy, but they'll soon be hearing more about the climatological differences between grape-growing regions.

During a tour of his shop, Corbella described the new venture as a natural outgrowth of his career as a professional persuader.

"When you're selling an idea or you're sharing an idea, the same applies to wines," said Corbella. "It's like, if you've never tried a gamay from France or if you've never tried a syrah or whatever, you're trying to sell the person on why you think it's a good idea for them to try it."

While Corbella's passion for wine is lifelong, his experience as a sommelier is relatively short. His quest for certification began in earnest when the pandemic first hit, leaving him with copious amounts of extra time. Amanda Morrison, Corbella's partner in Poco Vino, says he made that time count.

"It was his COVID project, so he wanted something substantial to show after being locked inside for a year and a half!" Morrison said.

In the process of envisioning and opening Poco Vino, Corbella and Morrison have become more than just business partners: they're now an item, nurturing a romance that itself has been nurtured by the romance of wine.

There's no question that Morrison is the more knowledgeable of the two regarding the products they sell.

"You can pop quiz me," she challenged, then offered detailed explanations of some of the specialty wines the store offers. The only items on Poco Vino's shelves are from wineries with annual production runs of less than 10,000 cases.

That exclusivity, Corbella hopes, will find a receptive audience in lawmakers and lobbyists, many of whom for better or worse tend to have fancy tastes. They also tend to have a pack mentality, rarely venturing far from downtown Tallahassee.

"You have interest groups, you have advocacy groups, and obviously you have 160 legislators from all over the state that are going to be working not just a block over, but are going to be spending a large majority of their time within a five block radius of this place," he said.