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December 2015 WINES&VINES 87 WINE EAST MARKETING - B E C O PA D - Y E A S T & E N Z Y M E S - C R U S H PA D E Q U I P M E N T - S T E R I L E F I LT R AT I O N - W I N E R Y H O S E - O A K A LT E R N AT I V E S EASTERN WINE LABS Serving the Analytical needs of East Coast Wineries WWW.EASTERNWINELABS.COM Ph 609-859-4302 Cell 609-668-2854 chemist@easternwinelabs.com AOAC Member EasternWineLab_Mar09.qxp 1/22/09 9:47 AM Page 1 2. A comprehensive "winery deregulation" bill that would eliminate unneces- sary and burdensome regu- lations while offering many new marketing opportuni- ties like multiple satellite stores, cooperative winery wholesaling, bottle sales at not-for-profit farmers mar- kets and the state fair, and more; 3. New York wine tastings in liquor stores; 4. Creation of a centralized organization for promotion and research supporting the New York grape and wine industry. In May 1984, Gov. Cuomo signed into law a bill that allowed the sale of low-alcohol wine cool- ers (but not wine) in New York food stores as well as the winery deregulation and tasting bills. The "cooler bill," as it was called, helped rescue many grapegrowers by creating new demand at a time of swelling winery inventories combined with record grape crops. The legislation to create the New York Wine and Grape Foun- dation had to wait until May 1985 before being passed. The foundation's budget for the first year was $2 million; state support would continue for four years, but on a declining ratio of state funds to industry funds. The money contributed to the founda- tion was to be spent 70% on re- search and 30% for promotion. The governor and state legislative leaders were to appoint a 13-mem- ber board of directors to be repre- sentative of the table grape, grape juice and wine industries across the state. Bert Silk, vice president of operations for the Canandaigua Wine Co., was elected chairman, and the board appointed Trezise as the foundation's president (a position he has held since Nov. 1, 1985) and Juanita Spence as manager. According to Trezise, the major purposes of the foundation were to centralize and coordinate pro- grams of promotion and research in support of the New York table grape, grape juice and wine indus- tries, to provide marketing sup- port of the products both within and beyond the state and to foster cooperation and collaboration within the industry. In order to work toward those goals, however, he first had to bring together a board of directors composed of a table grape grower, juice grape grower and a wine grape grower, as well as represen- tatives of a farm winery, large winery, wholesaler, retailer, res- taurateur, public relations pro- fessional, two researchers and representatives of the New York State Commissioners of Agricul- ture and Commerce. According to Trezise, Silk, the first board chair- man, brought a unique blend of diplomacy, negotiating skills and firmness to the job, which in a reasonably short time got every- one headed in the same direction. Over the years of working with such diverse groups within the industry, Trezise has used the slo- gan, "Diversity is our strength; unity is our power" to describe the philosophy behind the success of the foundation. The greater amount of funding from the state for the foundation was directed to research, primar- ily at Cornell University, one of the premier research institutions for viticulture and enology in the world. Cornell Cooperative Exten- sion then conveyed the results to the growers and winemakers to help them improve their opera- tions and products. Cornell has had success with grape breeding research—including the introduc- tion of varieties such as Cayuga White, Traminette, Valvin Muscat and Noiret—and with research in other areas—water management, disease prevention, trellising, cold-hardiness and high-tech crop assessment—that typically take many years and a lot of funds to develop meaningful, reliable data. According to Trezise, the payoff has been huge for grapegrowers and processors as well as the New York wine industry's reputation. Gene Pierce, owner of Glenora Wine Cellars in Dundee, N.Y., and a former chairman of the founda- tion's board of directors, also com- mented on the importance of re- search to the industry. He told Wines & Vines that the foundation