Leroy 'Buck' Mortorff talks about the importance of using virgin oak barrels for Chardonnay wine during a tour Sunday at Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys that was part of UnCork York Wine Trail's 2009 Tour de Tanks. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Paul Kuehnel)
Participating wineries are reporting more than a 50 percent increase in attendance for Tour de Tanks this year as compared to last. In addition, the Uncork York! trail has reaped the benefit of some generous coverage by the local media, including several regional TV stations and newspapers. The latest to publish something about the event was the York Daily Record, which ran a front-page story this weekend on Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys, Pa.
According to the piece by Greg Gross, more than 5,500 people have taken part in the first three weekends of the tour, an increase of more than 50 percent compared with the same time last year "This is the biggest year yet," co-owner Lloyd "Junior" Mortorff Jr. was quoted as saying on Saturday. To read the article, click on this link.
In the wake of the disappointing news last week that the bid to allow direct wine shipping in Maryland had been denied once again, the Maryland Wine Association on Monday made public the results of an economic impact study.
The report is a product of the Jacob France Institute of the University of Baltimore (JFI), and analyzes the economic importance—and the potential for barriers to growth—of Maryland wineries.
“This type of analysis is critical to understanding the relative importance of Maryland’s wine industry to the state’s rural economy,” Ray Brasfield, owner of Cygnus Wine Cellars and president of the Maryland Wineries Association.
This analysis was based on data provided by the Maryland Wineries Association, from a survey of all Maryland wineries, as well as data from the State of Maryland Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Bureau.
The economic impact estimates were generated using the IMPLAN model. The key findings of this analysis are as follows:
* Maryland wineries generate $40.4 million in economic activity in the State of Maryland, support 348 jobs earning $10.9 million in salaries, and generate $3.3 million in State and local tax revenues.
* Maryland wineries had direct revenues from winemaking and associated activities of $12.7 million. Based on the survey results, Maryland wineries employed an estimated 195 employees (including seasonal labor). The IMPLAN model estimates that Maryland wineries have regular (non-seasonal) employment of 37 full and part time workers.
* An estimated 293,390 persons visited Maryland wineries or wine festivals and 63,861 (22%) of these visitors are from out of state. All visitors to Maryland wineries and wine festivals spend an estimated $20 million in Maryland, and out-of-State tourists attending Maryland wine festivals or visiting Maryland wineries account for 38 percent or $7.5 million of visitor spending; and
* The sale of Maryland wines generates $7.4 million in distributor, retail, and restaurant business activity.
The full study can be downloaded online:
http://www.marylandwine.com/mwa/media/stories/economicstudy.shtml
Looks like Franklin Hill Vineyards, with its winery in Bangor, Pa., and three other retail locations, has upgraded its Web site. Looks like they are rotating out four or five photos in the header on the home page, and the winery has added an events link they the owners have started to add some details on scheduled events.Franklin Hill Vineyards is family-owned and has been in business since 1982. It is a member of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail. According to its Web site, Franklin Hill is a small, secluded winery located in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains. Its vineyard offers panoramic views of the Delaware River Valley. Also included on the site are the seven restaurants that carry its wines, ranging from Allentown Brew Works in Allentown to the Apollo Grille in Bethlehem to Big Woody’s in Easton and the Broadway Pub in Bangor.This is a winery that offers a free organized tour Wednesdays at noon. It's also open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
When you make your way into Four Springs Winery in Seven Valleys, Pa., one of these next two weekends for Tour de Tanks, make sure you try the meatballs in wine sauce. It could be a white sauce or red sauce; they've made both for an event that drew more than 300 ticketholders the first week and 450 each the past two weekends.The white sauce has been made with Four Springs Chardonnay and Rothchild Farms raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip. That creates a yellow sauce that's a perfect dipping agent for the meatballs. When they temporarily ran out of the raspberry honey mustard, they switched to a red sauce that featured Four Springs Chambourcin and some Aunt Mae smoked sweet chipolte oven and grilling sauce. Both of those companion items are available for purchase at the winery.In either case, lay the meatballs in the bottom of the crock and let them simmer. Then go open some wine and snack.
Received two notes from folks who found the blog and wanted to get tied in for different reasons. One came from Brian Kirby, who writes The Other 46, focusing on wineries in states outside the Big 4: California, Oregon, Washington and New York. You can find his blog among my links.I also heard from Kevin Durland at Nimble Hill Vineyard and Winery in Tuckhannock, which opened in 2007. It's located, he said, 25 miles west of Scranton. Nimble Hill and surrounding wineries have created the Great Escape Endless Mountain Wine Trail. I've linked you to the best reference I found to that wine trail, on the site of my winetrailtraveler.com buds, who visited Pickering Winery in Bradford County.
The note came Friday morning from Adam Borden, who became one of the principal spokesmen for a bill that would allow Maryland wineries to ship their product directly to home. It was brief, to the point.
"Dead"
And so another attempt to allow Maryland wineries to ship wine by mail was denied. How many of there been? Might be 11 years; might be 12. Certainly it's an issue that has come up numerous times, found intense resistence by the Maryland wholesalers and retailers, and died on the vine. Borden wrote later that he's know more by the end of the weekend or the first of next week about how close they came and how much progress they made over last year. Any gains, he suggested, will help prepare for another fight next year.
Kevin Atticks is the executive director of the Maryland Wine Association. Reached earlier this week, he had lost some of the optimism he had before the hearings began. That when he was talking about Maryland being one of five states that were reviewing their direct shipping laws. Another is New Jersey. He was hopeful that by the end of the wrangling, all five bills would pass and the total of states that permitted direct shipping would reach 40. Well, make that 39 now. Actually, if you want to acquaint yourself with how each state handled the issue of direct shipping, click on this link.
"It's a wait and see," Atticks said on the phone on Monday. "No news in this business is not good news. We're just waiting [to hear]."
The news ended a whirlwind month for Borden, who said a couple of weeks ago in an initial conversation that he runs a venture capital fund that invests in specialty food companies. While he was taking the reins of this grassroots movement to overturn the wine laws, Borden was also waiting for news from home that he pregnant wife was going into labor. On Feb. 18 he was testifying in the Senate until around 6:30 p.m. The baby was born the next day, before noon. Mom and child came home on Sunday, the 22nd, he said. On the 23rd he was back in Annapolis giving more testimony.
Bosden's predecessor, Atticks said, left the state and moved to Texas, "a beautiful wide-open state where you can get anything [shipped] you want." Speaking to Borden a few times over the past few weeks, he obviously has learned a lot nis his first year directing this consumer effort, particularly about the obstacles that exist when it comes to getting free shipping passed. What galls him the most are the figures that show how much he says the state is losing, let alone what the wineries aren't getting in revenue and what consumers are being denied in terms of convenience.
The current process, he said, is so convulated that "in the six years that this program has been in effect, there have been six wineries that have participated in this program, none I've ever heard of, and the state has collected a whopping $140 [in fees].
"Just to put in perspective, New Hampshire last year alone collected $520,000 via is direct ship program and that doesn't even include a sales tax because they don't have one," he said, his voice more awah in frustration the longer he talked about the past few weeks. "So that's just permit fee and excise tax. So it's clearly been very unsuccessful . . . and it has been so because of the process. No one in their right mind would go through this process."
I've been slowly gathering enough material to allow for several consecutive posts about the business of selling wine and some of the issues that are arising in the mid-Atlantic. In New York, legislators are talking about changing the law to allow supermarkets to begin selling wine.Dr. Vino, acknowledged as having the best wine blog in the country, has been posting on the issue the past couple of weeks. Sharing a couple with you. This one was posted this morning. The budget battle in Albany looms on the calendar–and with it a decision for a possible overhaul of New York wine retail law that would expand wine sales to supermarkets. (See backgrounders here and here.)In an op-ed in yesterday’s NYT, wine shop owner Marco Pasanella makes the case that he and other independent shops should be allowed to expand to have more than one location and be able to sell bread, cheese, microbrews, and, yes, recyclable bags, which they are not allowed to currently sell. I’ll drink to that! In fact, it is absurd that this corollary is not in the proposed reform legislation and should be corrected immediately. I stopped by Pasanella & Son last week for a book signing. It is a handsome shop with an antique Fiat on the floor; the wine selection is excellent. The staff did a fantastic job setting up the event and it was great to see so many people, particularly from the neighborhood turn out. In his op-ed, Marco says that the staff at a local shop will remember a customer’s name. In fact, one woman there that evening told me that the staff member actually remembered which wine she had bought on her previous visit when she couldn’t. Bet that won’t happen at D’Agostino.
Also check out their clever and popular free wine and movie nights, Sip ‘n Cinema! And here's one he posted on March 5.Christy Frank of Frankly Wines–last seen in front of her cork wall–returns with some answers to a few of my questions about the possible changes NY wine retail. Size of store: 320 sq feet, possibly the smallest in Manhattan [66 West Broadway; Tribeca]
Style of selections: well-edited! My version of the well-stocked wine closet: including daily essentials, quirky finds, and higher end treasures. Selection skews toward the Southern Hemisphere.price average: 50% of stock is $20 or less
A cool bottle: “Syrocco” Syrah 2006 (Zenata, Morocco) - eye-rolling aside at the clever, rhyming name, the wine is a great value at $16.99. Alain Graillot of Northern Rhone fame is the man behind this project.
Date store opened: December 14th, 2007
Position on proposed reform to allow food stores to sell wine: There’s a Whole Foods around the corner, so the possibility that this will pass, combined with the current economic environment does worry me. Prior to opening my wine store, I ran the national business for several wine brands, so I understand that independent wine/liquor stores can co-exist with large, corporate grocery chains that also sell wine. However, given the current economic environment, this is probably not the best time to test the entrepreneurial spirit of the existing independent retail base to adjust to a drastically changed regulatory landscape. What I find interesting about this proposal is that the benefit (or possible lack of benefit) to the consumer barely enters into the discussion. The proposal was issued as a way to raise state funding, and as such, I think the financials need to be given real, detailed scrutiny.
I’ve seen top-line numbers from both sides, but the devil is in the details - and the only detail I have seen is the written testimony submitted by Whole Foods on 11/30/07 in preparation for last year’s budget (found herein pdf). I hope that unlike the scenario in that document, the State’s calculations take the negative consequences of existing store closures into account. I hope that “700 full-time-equivalent jobs” are enough to off-set the jobs lost due to those closings. And I hope that if passed, the actual franchise fee per location isn’t actually 10% - 0.2% of location sales for small stores ($500K or less per year) and only 0.05% - 0.06% of sales for the largest stores.
My suspicion, although I welcome hard numbers that firmly indicate otherwise, is that this plan will transfer wine sales from small, local retailers to large, corporate chain grocery stores at the time when these retailers have the least chance of success to successfully adjust their business models.
What you might do differently if passed : I already focus on smaller, boutique brands and offer a very high level of service. Ideally, the legislation would allow me to sell high-end beer and a small selection of gourmet goods - without turning myself into a full-on grocery If a grocery store gets to tag wine onto their existing business model, I should think I should have the opportunity to tag beer and cheese onto mine.
And if grocery stores are now allowed to sell wine in multiple locations under the same corporate license, shouldn’t wine stores be given the same ability to gain scale and compete? I’d love to see Frankly Wines logos in locations across the city….I bet I can pick up some old Starbucks leases on the cheap…if only I could find the funding.
