New York Farm Viability Institute Website Press Releases 

PRESS RELEASE: July 24, 2006

Contact: Steve Bate, Long Island Wine Council, 631-477-8493
R. David Smith, New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc., 315-453-3823

Long Island Grape & Wine Producers Reap Sales Saavy from NYFVI-Funded Report

Long Island winemakers and grape growers now have new marketing strategies and quality initiatives to consider, thanks to a New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc (NYFVI)-funded project. The Long Island Wine Council and Cornell University researcher John Davidowitz collaborated to develop ways for the producers to increase customer demand and sales. Long Island has gone from having no wineries in 1973 to 40 wineries in 2006.

“While the region’s wines have been receiving prestigious awards from competitions throughout the United States and around the world,” says Davidowitz, “the Long Island producers believe that customer demand and recognition have not kept pace.”

The Long Island Wine Council hired Davidowitz to conduct an evaluation of quality initiatives and quality alliances used by other successful wine regions in the United States. It was perceived that initiatives that set taste standards and alliances that provide growers with a cooperative working relationship could offer marketing benefits for the Long Island producers.

Davidowitz worked with Long Island Wine Council Executive Director Steve Bate and LI grape producers to identify marketing strategies and analyze quality initiatives and quality alliances used by other national and international wine producing regions.

“One finding from the project was that there were not many formal initiatives and alliances being used. There were fewer of these organizations than we had estimated,” says Davidowitz. “It appears that most wine and wine grape producers prefer to retain their independence.”

The Council was also interested in learning the benefits and/or pitfalls of recognizing a signature varietal, a grape that grows particularly well and is promoted as a regional masterpiece. Some producers felt that recognizing one variety could detract from their other grapes. The council needed an outside objective evaluation to make the determination as to the value of this type of marketing promotion.

“Long Island wineries had splintered into several groups, each addressing different quality initiatives or marketing priorities,” says Trent Preszler, chief operating officer of Bedell Cellars and Corey Creek Vineyards. “It became important for us as producers to have a third party perspective to better understand the potential effectiveness of different organizational strategies. We learned that wineries all over the country, and the world, face similar marketing challenges, and we now have a better understanding of how to proceed as a winegrowing region.”

Larry Perrine, president and CEO of Channing Daughters Winery, says, “The project funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute helped us see the range of experiences that the other wine regions in the country had with quality initiatives. It’s important to know not only what decisions they struggled with, but what ended up happening.”

Perrine says he is currently working on a project with the Long Island Wine Council to develop a major educational program for wine producers based on the findings from the NYFVI report.

“Wine and grape producers must maintain the high quality of the wines, which in turn improves customer perceptions and will lead to higher profits for producers,” Perrine says.

The Long Island Merlot Alliance was launched to promote merlot as the region’s signature grape. As a kickoff event on April 3, 2006, a “barrel tasting” was held in New York City. A number of the country’s most influential wine critics were on hand to sample the new “Merliance.”

New York Times Long Island Vines columnist Howard Goldberg wrote about the new Merliance, “the first collective effort is graceful and promising.” Louisa Hargrave, co-founder of the LI wine industry and director of the Stony Brook University Center for Wine, Food and Culture, agreed, “What pleased me most about Merliance was its vivid expression of fruit, with an enticing burst of black pepper on the palate, and a silky finish."

Barbara Shinn of Shinn Estates Vineyard - one of the five producers in the Merlot Alliance, says, “EEMA is a quality alliance. Producers are working together to grow better merlot grapes in their vineyards and to produce even more refined blends each year. The networking of the alliance brings producers together to taste through each others wines and walk each others fields. That learning experience improves the taste of all of the varieties that the wineries grow.”

Only 250 cases of this exclusive new blend have been produced. These will be available at member wineries at $35 a bottle.

“The NYFVI funded report demonstrates that the regions that adopted a signature varietal increased demand for not only that grape but for others in the region as well,” says Bate. “Perhaps just as important for our purposes, the report clearly showed that continuing educational programs provide significant benefits for regions like Long Island that are serious about producing high quality wines. We fully intend to implement these findings."

New York State is the third largest wine producing state in the U.S. The state produces almost 17 million cases annually and generated more than $3.3 billion in 2004. The wine areas in NY include Long Island, the Finger Lakes, the Hudson River Valley, Lake Erie and the Niagara Escarpment. There are burgeoning wine regions in the North Country-Lake Champlain area and along the Eastern Seaway Trail.

According to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, winery tasting rooms statewide saw an average of 54% increase in consumer visitation and a 49% increase in average customer spending from 2000-2003. Seventy-four new wineries were established between 2000-2004.

The New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc. has awarded more than $170,000 supporting the wine grape sector in NY State over the past two years. The NYFVI is a farmer-led, farmer-driven, independent not-for-profit corporation that funds research, extension and innovative technologies for New York agricultural and horticultural producers. The Institute grants funds for projects that directly benefit producers at the enterprise level across farms of all sizes and all commodity areas.

For more information, contact the New York Farm Viability Institute, 159 Dwight Park Circle, Suite 104, Syracuse, NY 13209, 315-453-3823, www.nyfarmviability.org