Middletown winery gets makeover

OFF THE VINE: Newport Vineyards is expanding, doubling its space with a new building, shown above at left in a fall 2013 photo. / COURTESY NEWPORT VINEYARDS
OFF THE VINE: Newport Vineyards is expanding, doubling its space with a new building, shown above at left in a fall 2013 photo. / COURTESY NEWPORT VINEYARDS

The Newport area’s visiting and resident wine aficionados will soon have more room to nurse their Pinot noirs and sip their Sauvignon blancs.
Newport Vineyards is getting a makeover. After 18 years in the business, the winery decided to double its space, allowing the necessary expanse for corporate events and a new restaurant called Brix Restaurant. There will be expanded capacity for its Fatulli’s Bakery and Deli as well as increased area for wine production.
The Middletown winery offers a number of red, white, reserve, blush, sparkling and dessert wines. It also makes hard cider.
There were “several fronts that were squeezing us,” John Nunes, the vineyard’s owner said, explaining it maxed out, among other things, its capacity for guests.
The expansion of the vineyard will allow corporate outings to become a bigger part of Newport Vineyards’ business. Instead of being dictated by time of year or other factors outside its control, the winery will have more control over these events.
“Historically our event business had been limited to the seasonality of our space, however with this expansion we will be able to offer multiple indoor and outdoor event-space locations on a year-round, daily basis,” the company said in an email. “This will [lead] to growth in our private and public events programming, a segment of the business we are strongly focusing on.”
The project is being done in two parts – phase one is complete, while the second part will likely be completed by the end of 2014 or early 2015. The first phase included the new restaurant, expected to open this month, a new fermentation tank room and an outside patio.
Phase two includes a completely refurbished tasting room, a new marketplace store and a three-season porch. The additional space for the bakery and deli will also be completed in this portion of the project.
Once complete, the project will take the total area the winery occupies from 15,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. This is not the only aspect of the vineyard that will double as a result of the expansion – the number of employees will increase from 25 to over 50, Nunes said. Newport Vineyards harvests an average of 250 tons of grapes per year, Nunes said. The expansion will leave parts of the vineyard with higher ceilings, which aids the winery in how it grows its grapes.
This increase will allow Newport Vineyards to increase the total number of grapes harvested by up to 50 percent over the next decade, the owner said. “As long as you’re making good wine and treating your people well, you’ll grow,” Nunes said.
When asked about how its retail efforts compare to the role of the winery in spreading the word about Newport Vineyards’ wines, Nunes said the “idea is we introduce [the wine] to them here and they fall in love with the product.”
Nunes also added that the facility will let visitors see how the winery ages the grapes and the bottling process.
“[Our] bread and butter is the Newport hospitality scene,” Nunes said, adding that Newport sees approximately 4 million visitors each year and that the winery itself draws about 50,000 visitors annually. The majority of their guests come from New England, Nunes said.
Newport County contains two other wineries other than Nunes’ business, which are Greenvale Vineyards and Carolyn’s Sakonnet Vineyards.
“Having three distinct vineyards within our destination is a true asset to our attractions portfolio,” Discover Newport Marketing and Communications Manager Andrea McHugh said in an email.
“Authentic experiences like witnessing how our local wineries operate and tasting their diverse vintages engage their senses and make for a treasured memory,” she said. “Also, all three are close to the coastline, which can create idyllic grape-growing conditions.” •

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