Wine caucus indicative of change that's ahead

Bob Mazza’s winery was the seventh in the state when it opened in 1973. Now in his fourth term as president of the Pennsylvania Winery Association, he has seen the industry in this state and elesewhere do more than take root. It’s developed a sexiness that didn’t exist when he and his wife Kathie put in their first vines.

“No question about it,” he said during a phone conversation Thursday night. “We kind of have a saying that years ago, you know, we were kind of lumped in with the drug dealers and the criminals, being in the wine business. It wasn’t the type of business that commanded any amount of respect. It was like, you were, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, it sounded like you had a problem because you were governed by this particular governmental agency. Today, with all the positives that come out, from the wine business, in terms of the health benefits, in terms of the lifestyle, in terms of other neat things that are associated with wine in terms of agritourism and land conservation and maintaining green space and vineyards … it’s very, very well received now.”

He and others participated on June 4 with more than 25 members of the state legislature in a one-day wine caucus, according to a story on the Pennsylvania Winery Association (PWA) Web site. It was held at PWA's headquarters in Harrisburg. This was the first, and Mazza said assuredly that it won’t be the last. “We’ll certainly have, let s just call them get-togethers, in order to keep caucus members apprised of what’s going on in our industry and what some of the challenges are that we face and some of the good things that we’re doing as well. Just have this core nucleus of legislators that are generally interested in this business to really be our ambassadors in the rest of the legislature.”

Mazzza said it’s “imperative to build this core group of legislators” that are interested in the wine industry and seeing it grow. The state’s wine association notes that Pennsylvania is the fifth largest wine grape producer in the nation and ranks eighth in wine output, amounting to about 340,000 cases in 2005. There are more than 150 wine grape growers and over 120 wineries. More will open this year; Hauser Estate, located west of Gettysburg, is schedule to open next month. “You know, when legislation comes down the pike," Mazza continued, "we’ll have a core group of legislators that are really going to go to bat for us and help our industry where and when it needs help.”

As for how residents of the Commonwealth might interpret this meeting and the push toward developing the industry -- the goals of that initiative in a recently released plan entitled "Vintage 2012" -- Mazza was frank. “I suspect the average person might just regard it as another special interest group,” he said. “And let’s call a spade a spade; yes, we are a special interest group, but by the same token we do generate quite a bit of economic impact for the Commonwealth and we create jobs and we pay taxes. So yes, bottom line is, we are a special-interest group, but I think our interest is certainly in keeping with the average citizen, too.”