Our Story
Hailing from a small lakeside community in northern Michigan, 34th Degreeº Wine Merchant’s founder, Emily Krueger, learned early on in life that great food and drink was a central part in people sharing their time, their stories, and their lives together.
While cultivating a 20-year career in marketing and advertising that would take her from coast to coast across the United States after graduating from college, Emily fell in love with the world of wine.
This new passion led her to explore many wine regions across the globe, and it didn’t take long for her to realize that wine would one day be her full-time calling.
Simultaneous to her career in advertising, Emily studied and was awarded multiple certifications in wine education, including the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Advanced Certificate; North American Sommelier Association (NASA) Italian Wine Specialist and American Wine Specialist; and Wine Scholar Guild (WSG) French Wine Scholar.
Her goal with 34th Degreeº Wine Merchant is to share her passion for wine with Blue Ridge residents and visitors by creating a space where people with all levels of knowledge can find new and interesting bottles of wine to share with their loved ones, creating that same sense of community that inspired her to follow this journey.
We invite you to come visit us to learn more about the store and our imaginative array of products. You can learn how to find us or get in touch here.
