Helena residents who wander into a wine and craft beer shop in Anaconda may start feeling a little nostalgic for the Queen City. There’s a good reason for that. Vanessa Romero, who along with her husband Joe opened the in Anaconda, have a business that features furnishings and other items from two former Helena institutions: Topper’s Cellar and Bert and Ernie’s.
Romero, who has a long history in the wine industry, said as she was planning her shop she received a call from the man widely known by wine lovers as "Topper." He was going out of business and said he had things in his shop that he thought she would need. “I felt so honored and so special,” Romero said.
Topper's wine racks, which were handmade nearly 48 years ago, now decorate the Bighorn. Topper said he had heard of Romero’s background in the wine industry and that she was on a mission through her business to educate people and share her passion and enthusiasm for wine. He contacted her and told her that if he had something she needed he would be happy to offer her the items to help fulfill that mission.
“It was a huge honor,” she said, adding that Topper is legendary in the Helena wine scene. “Anyone who was a big wine lover knew Topper,” Romero said. Topper, likely less well known as Arthur Galloway, said he sold the wine racks that he, his sister and her husband made decades ago to Romero at a price both parties agreed to.
“It perpetuates what I worked a long, long time to create, which is a.
