Winemakers state their case

This is an important time for New England wineries.

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Summer has unofficially begun and salesmen are busy pitching their wines to
liquor stores and restaurants. And those selling their wines in-house are preparing
for the tourist season.

What they don’t want to miss out on is a chance to shine in a gloomy economy.

“People aren’t spending $150 on a Carbonate Franc or $50 on a Chardonnay like
they once did,” said Susan Samson, co-owner of Little Compton’s Sakonnet Vineyard
and Winery. “That is a positive for New England wineries because we are more
reasonable.”

But at the same time there are obstacles to overcome. Their biggest problem
is that people don’t associate wine making with southeastern New England. Getting
the word out is the function of the Coastal Wine Group.

Six wineries – Newport Vineyards, Sakonnet, Greenvale Farm and Vineyard in
Portsmouth, Westport Rivers Vineyard in Westport, Mass. and two in Connecticut
– belong to the wine group. To be a member, a winery must be located no further
than 45 miles from the region’s coast and produce at least five acres of Chardonnay.

“People tend to buy wine according to color and where it’s from,” said Bill
Russell, winemaker at Westport Rivers Vineyard. “The challenge is to educate
people about our Appalachian wine country. Right now, they don’t even know we
exist.”

Bob Russell, part owner of Westport Rivers, said the goal is to get wine consumers
clued into something that is already known by the federal government. The Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has delineated this a grape-growing region,
much like Napa Valley in California, he said.

“There is a big battle of disbelief,” he said. “People say, ‘Fine wine can
be made in New England? You’ve got to be kidding.’ We’ve got to break down that
perception.”

Russell says success will be reached when the image changes, creating a demand
for wine from the region that outstrips supply and thus adding value to the
product.

“When consumers in New England adapt to the idea that there are great wines
here, they will become among the faithful,” he said.

The group is seeking a $180,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture to
pay for, among other things, a part-time marketing strategist to elevate the
wineries’ “credibility.” Its first attempt was shot down, but members plan to
apply again for the grant later this year.

By far the best wine offered by this region is a Chardonnay, made from a white
grape of the same name. The region’s relatively cool climate is optimal for
growing this type of grape and wineries have seized on the opportunity to produce
what vineyard owners are calling a “world-class Chardonnay.”

“Ours can compete with any Chardonnay that’s out there,” said Steve Crohn,
marketing director of Newport Vineyards in Newport. “Focusing on the quality
of our grapes is paramount.”

While southeastern New England wineries wait to be recognized, those in Rhode
Island focus on getting customers to its operations to make the sale.

Nancy Parker Wilson, part owner of Greenvale, said making the sale was the
most difficult aspect to making wine. She has had to depend on getting tourists
and an “act globally, buy locally” crowd into her “boutique winery.” She works
with tourism organizations to get the word out about Greenvale and pushes to
get people through the doors. Once visitors arrive, she said, the wine sells
itself.

“We want customers to develop a relationship with the wine. It’s kind of like
a romantic relationship,” Parker Wilson said. “This is what drives our business.”

At Newport Vineyards, which includes about 40 acres of grapevines that result
in about 10,000 cases of product, Crohn said attracting visitors who buy wine
is enough to keep business from getting sour.

“We are fortunate that there is a fair amount of tourism here,” he said. “That
helps somewhat.”

The family-owned business doesn’t look to have its wines stocking the shelves
of liquor stores or in the wineglasses of restaurants. Crohn said the focus
is placed on the quality of grape grown in the fields, which results in a better
wine that is served in its tasting rooms and sold at the vineyard.

At Westport Rivers, only one-third of the wine produced is sold at the vineyard
store. They do have wine-tasting rooms but more effort is made to get its wine
into liquor stores and restaurants.

About 150 restaurants, including several in Providence, serve as “remote tasting
rooms.”

“They get our wine by the glass at a restaurant and hopefully we’ll get 500
to 750 of them to become customers (at liquor stores),” Russell said.

Westport is also rare in that they work through a distributor to get its product
out into the market. Of the 10,000 cases they expect to sell this year, the
majority will be on the shelves at liquor stores. The marketing efforts of the
Coastal Wine Group become paramount at this stage of the game. Russell’s goal
is to produce a “pride of ownership” of the wines produced in the region throughout
the industry – from seller to distributor to consumer.

At Sakonnet, the oldest winery in the region, the focus is on getting the
product to store owners before they finish stocking shelves in June. Sakonnet
sells in 11 states and salesmen are busy pushing products onto the shelves.
Sakonnet has 50 acres of vineyards and is expected to produce about 13,000 cases
of wine from its own stock of grapes.

Wine producers at Diamond Hill Vineyards in Lincoln went with the distributor
approach but couldn’t make it worthwhile.

“Back in 1981 we had a commercial vintage, but liquor stores were not open
to having a local wine,” said Chantelle Rogers. She said those bottles that
did make it to the shelves sat there, mostly because consumers didn’t associate
wine with Rhode Island.

And what did sell, they only got one-third of the money since the liquor store
and distributor got their share. They pulled out of the deal soon after and
became a retailer of its wine and faced other problems.

Rogers would like to see the image of the region’s wine elevated so that more
people will visit the region’s vineyards. She added that each vineyard offers
customers something different, which will only help business at Diamond Hill.

“I think if someone has a good experience at Greenvale, they will try us,”
she said. “I don’t feel there is any competition. We are all in this together.”