The Press Deck
News from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation
November 7th, 2018
Field Notes...
From Julie Hosbach, Communications Manager
Dear Friends,
Happy November!

This week Val Ross and I traveled to Buffalo, NY for the 51st Annual American Wine Society Conference . We poured the Best of Class winners from our 2018 New York Wine Classic for over 500 wine enthusiasts from around the nation...and we ran out! What does that tell us? New York wines are being celebrated and received well by wine enthusiasts. The message is clear: New York is making fantastic, quality wines and consumers are drinking them (and buying them...It looks like our Governor's Cup Winner has already sold out. We encourage you to check out everything that Keuka Spring Vineyards does, it will be worth it to get ahead of the curve on the next winning wines!)
Engaging wine enthusiasts at American Wine Society Friday.
Friday evening, we traveled back to Canandaigua, NY to celebrate our 2018 New York Wine Classic Best of Class winners at New York Kitchen.  Sparkling Pointe Vineyards and Winery 2008 Brut Seduction, Sheldrake Point Winery 2017 Dry Rose, Keuka Spring Vineyards 2017 Gewurztraminer, Dr. Konstatin Frank Wine Cellars 2016 Blaufrankisch, and Brotherhood , America's Oldest Winery 2017 Late Harvest Riesling we all paired with a dazzling menu from New York Kitchen. It was wonderful to hear representatives from the wineries share their stories. Their passion, hard work, and determination was obvious as it emanated from them as they introduced their wines.
Guests enjoying a wonderful night of wine and food celebrating
The 2018 New York Wine Classic winners.
This is what I love so much about the New York wine industry. The passion, the people, and the product. Growing up in the Rochester area, I have long believed in the quality, and potential of New York State wines. If you’ve ever had the pleasure to meet either of my role models/mentors ( Lorraine Hems and Peter Bell ,) you know why I fell head over heels in love with New York State wine industry while I was in college and have been an avid advocate and enthusiast of the industry since. Passion about what we can do is the common denominator.
 
As a former wine educator and enthusiast, it is an honor for me to serve the New York wine & grape industry. As the Communications Manager, and newest member to the New York Wine & Grape Foundation team, I can tell you the momentum isn’t going to slow down. We are all working at full speed to promote New York State wines at state, national, and international levels. 

We’re partnering and funding critical research and advancements to share. We’re attending domestic and/or international trade shows every month. We’re expanding NY Drinks NY events across the state. And we’re letting the state government know how critical the wine and grape industry is to the success of the economy. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can and invite you to share any thoughts with me .  

Cheers!
Julie Hosbach, Communications Manager
New York Wine & Grape Foundation
Industry News...
Growers Co-op Reaches 90 Years
For nearly a century, Growers Cooperative Grape Juice Company of Westfield has processed the harvest of local grape growers with the goal of giving them the best return possible. “The most rewarding thing is seeing our farmers’ grapes come in and getting a good return back to them,” said General Manager Steve Cockram. “How good are our returns to our farmers” is the bottom line. Growers’ Co-op, founded in 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression when grape prices were plunging and local farmers were struggling to survive, is now in its 90th year. Read more...
Flavored Wine Drinks Create Whole New Beverage Category
Friends Fun Wine®, a 2018 World Wine Championship award-winning, lower-in-calorie, low-ABV, global beverage company, and FIFCO USA, a leading alcoholic beverage company, today announced their intent to enter into a strategic marketing and distribution agreement. The partnership allows the Friends Fun Wine brand to expand across the U.S. market. Friends Fun Wine features a collection of Fun Wine ™ drinks with a 5.5% ABV and 71-94 calories per 4.2 oz serving, and a slight effervesce. The brand has created a new alternative beverage category in countries all over the world.  Read more...
New South Wales Australia Invests $2M into Marketing Campaign
As rural communities continue to feel the crippling effects of drought, the state government has launched a $2 million wine marketing campaign aimed to drive international visitation to rural and regional NSW. Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall said the campaign would involved a mix of new and traditional marketing. Read more...
HKTDC Conference to Examine Top Wine Trends Shaping Asia
Titled “Driving growth: the flourishing Asia wine market”, the conference will be moderated by Debra Meiburg MW and will unite top experts including masters of wine, fine wine authentication experts, market researchers and e-commerce experts to analyse and dissect the latest trends in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and mainland China. Read more...
New York in the News...
American Wine Revolution
In cities and rural locations across America a wine revolution is under way. The little that has been written about it so far has focused upon individual states, which is why so far only a few insiders see the big picture. When the world thinks about American wine it’s firmly located on the West Coast, but the truth is that wine is produced in all the states of the Union. For example, Colorado may seem like an extremely unlikely place to make wine, but the state has 198 wineries and many outstanding quality wines exist! Read more...
Finger Lakes Winery Earns Top 100
In an impressive run, Bellangelo earned a spot as a producer of one of Wine & Spirits Magazine's Top 100 Wines in the World for 2018, and has had a series of wines in Wine & Spirits Magazine's "Best Of," category. Bellangelo's Top 100 honor was its 2015 Berry Select Riesling (with a score of 94). Noted wine writer Jamie Goode, author of Wine Science , recently commented on this wine's "amazing harmony and depth." Other "Best Of" notations in 2018 belong to its 2015 Gibson Vineyard Riesling (91), 2015 Reserve Chardonnay (91), and a listing as one of America's Best Sparkling Wines with a nod in the Best Buy category for its Sparkling Cuvée. Read more...
Del Vino Vineyards Opens in Northport
The tasting room at Del Vino Vineyards in Northport opened for business Thursday night. The opening was much anticipated by both the community and owner Frederick Giachetti, who bought the 10-acre, residentially zoned land on Norwood Road for $2.45 million in December 2012 and cleared several hurdles in order to open one of Long Island’s few vineyards outside the East End. Read more...
New York Featured as Region of the Month by Int'l Riesling Fdn
If you want us to see your Riesling photos (and possibly share them to our feed), please tag them #drinkriesling on Instagram. Also, for those of you in the US, are you wondering what wine belongs on the Thanksgiving Table? Riesling, of course! View IRF website...
Finger Lakes Vineyard Update
The 2018 growing season is behind us now, and based on speaking with growers and winemakers during harvest, I think it’s safe to say that this year was kind of a mixed bag of good and “not so good.” Chris Gerling is preparing a review of the season across the state’s grape regions for the final Veraison to Harvest issue next week, but here are a couple of highlights from the Finger Lakes as I saw it. Read more...
Member Corner...
Member News, Benefits, Events & More...
Welcome New and Returning Members
Welcome Back & Congratulations
Johnson Estate Winery!
Earlier this year Johnson Estate was awarded the NY Agricultural Society’s “Century Farm” award. The winery’s founder’s father, Frederick William Johnson, purchased the farm and vineyards from the original settler family 110 year ago. His farm, known as Sunnyslope Farm, was originally a diversified fruit farm with grapes, apples, cherries, peaches, and pears which enabled him to weather the Depression. His son, and the winery’s founder, Frederick Spencer Johnson was a Navy veteran who served as a pilot during World War II and founded the winery in 1961. The winery is now owned by a third generation, Fred and Jennifer Johnson. The NY Agricultural Society, established in 1823, has long supported the state’s agricultural endeavors and was instrumental in the creation of the State Fair, the NYS Dept. of Agriculture, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension program. The Society recognizes century and bicentennial farms each year at its annual meeting.   View website...
Welcome New Business Associate!
Lansing Sales
Passion. Experience. Excellence. Founded in 1906, we offer powerful point-of-sale software solutions, designed for the hospitality and retail industries.  With the ability to handle virtually any size installation and the adaptability to manage any type of business (from bar and fine dining to delivery and take out). At Lansing Sales we look for every opportunity to help clients get more value from every transaction View website...

Now in its 8th year, EWE is the largest winery/vineyard event held east of the Pacific states. Your members will have the opportunity to meet with nearly 240 exhibiting companies; attend workshop & conference sessions covering all aspects of the winery and vineyard business, presented by leaders in their fields; network with 1,000+ other industry professionals; and attend the numerous social & networking events. The benefits of attendance are plentiful! And for the 3rd year, the License to Steal wine marketing conference will be held in conjunction with EWE. NYWGF Members SAVE 10%
The discount code for your members is 19NYWG. Register here...
Winery Marketing: Direct Consumer Insights & Analytics [Webinar] December 4th, 2018 at 10:00 AM
Join Taylor Eason , Digital Marketing Strategist with Cork & Fork Digital Media, for a workshop covering why customer insights and analytics are crucial to improving a winery’s marketing and sales efforts. Defining your target audience is the first step in effective marketing. A detailed customer insights profile allows you to uncover the essence of why someone chose your product over another’s, how your brand is viewed, and what marketing segments resonate with your brand. There is fierce power in knowing your customer. Key questions to ask yourself: Do you have intimate knowledge of who purchases your products? What are their demographics, likes and dislikes, hobbies and habits? NYWGF Members save $25 with code NYW18 upon registration.   Read more...
Last Chance! Register for Webinar
on ADA Website Compliance
November 8th, 10:00AM-11:30AM
As you may have heard, or read in our October 13 Grapevine,
New York state wineries are the latest target of lawsuits alleging businesses websites are not accessible to blind individuals, in violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We understand it’s not much solace to know that wineries are just the latest in a very long list of businesses facing lawsuits for exactly the same thing. Don’t panic - lots of other businesses have navigated the murky legal and new technological issues website accessibility presents, and you can too. On November 8th, members of Seyfarth Shaw’s Disability Access Defense Team, who have helped businesses with hundreds of website accessibility matters, will present a webinar that will help you understand:

• What it means for a website to be accessible,
• The legal bases and theories driving these lawsuits,
• The current litigation and regulatory landscape,
• Strategies for responding to a website accessibility lawsuit, and
• What businesses should be doing now about their websites to mitigate risk.

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