Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/152772
wine marketing Gabriella Macari said of the year-round big city visitors, "It is difficult to get people to recognize we have vines to begin with on Long Island. Fortunately, what helped us was finding winemaker colleagues in France and Italy friendly and open. We are constantly inspiring our workers, and my brother, who has attended viticultural school, now manages the vineyards." Sheldrake Point Vineyard General manager Bob Madill (a minority partner along with Chuck Tauck) says, "Our best decision was to buy the winery property on the midwest side of Cayuga Lake, where we now grow 44 acres of vines. It is a beautiful Finger Lakes location with 200 feet of waterfront on 155 acres." When they began, Madill described them as a "group of semi-professional neophytes," which then included a real estate developer (in Las Vegas, Nev.) who told them, "Man, you have got a great piece of dirt." They now look back after 16 years saying, "You could not buy this for anything less than what real estate developers would pay." The partners planned to produce and sell 20,000 cases per year and developed a business plan with spreadsheets showing how it could be done. "We made hypothetical decisions to enable us to do that. None of us had run a farm before; we were professionals from other industries. We planted the first 5 acres of vineyards with sales and marketing smarts that we thought we had, and which turned out that we did not. "The funny part of this is that we went off-site to have a planning session with our key people. Len Penichetti offered to join our meeting, looked at us and the plan and said, 'Do you know how hard it is to sell 20,000 cases?' We did not know, so now we produce about 6,0008,000 cases, learning every year how to produce fine Rieslings and other varieties. "A few years ago we were 85% to 90% ex-cellar sales, now we are 75% cellar door with 25% in-state distribution. This sort of wisdom comes from experience. You cannot come from other experience and juggle everything immediately expecting to have instant success." Sheldrake Point wines include Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Waterfall Chardonnay, dry Rosé, Cabernet Franc, Gamay Noir, Luckystone White (Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer at 11.6% alcohol, 1.3% RS) and Luckystone Red (Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Gamay and Cabernet Sauvignon at 11.7% alcohol). "Ninety-five percent of our wines have alcohol levels not much above 12.5%," adds Madill. "The exception is Gewürztraminer, which ripens well, not late, but develops full aromatic potential. The 2010 Gewürztraminer was 12.9% alcohol (7 grams/l RS), and the 2011 wine was 13.8% (4 grams/l RS). Occasionally, one or two reds finish at 12.7% alcohol." PWV pr actica l win ery & vin eya r d S EPTE M B ER 20 13 67