I recently had a group of customers come to the winery for a wine making party. When it was over, one of them asked, “are we the most fun group you ever had”? Ahh, “well, there’s nothing like a party full of girls”, I said. They all laughed, “good answer”. That pretty much says it all. Go to www.lakelandwinery.com and create your own wine making party (two visits each 1-1/2 hours over 7 weeks) ; or wine tasting party ($5/person, and purchase aged wine by the bottle). Both parties require you to bring your own food, and I’ll bring the wine:)

I received a call today from Troy at NYS Assemblyman Bill Magee’s office. He said, ‘your bill passed the Assembly by a unanimous vote”. MY BILL?, I think. WOW! UNANIMOUS!

For close to a year I have been trying to get legal permission to do in New York State what has been legalized by the Federal Government for probably 7 years. And now it’s finally here folks: permission for people to make their own wine at a Licensed Winery. The following are the exact words of BILL #7194:

Section 76 of the alcoholic beverage control law is amended by adding a new subdivision 7 is added to read as follows:

7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a winery licensed pursuant to this section may engage in custom crush wine production allowing individuals to assist in the production of wine for sale for personal or family use provided, however, that (a) the wine must be purchased by the individual assisting in the production of such wine and (b) the owner, employee or agent of such winery shall be present at all times.

But, this is only one hurdle. A more difficult task is approval by the State Senate, in particular Senator John DeFrancisco, who is co-sponsoring this bill. Please give him a call at (315) 428-7632 and tell him how much you want Bill #7194 passed. They will be recessing for the Summer I think next week, so don’t put off your call.

In the mean time, you can continue to make your own wine as a privilege of membership to our FREE wine making club.

Andy

p.s. There is another bill in the works that will allow people to make wine at a facility NOT licensed by the State Liquor Board. They would be able to get a separate license just for that purpose from the State Department of Agriculture and Market. The wheels turn slowly in government…but they do turn.

Here’s a quick preview of Step 1 of our upcoming How to Make Wine Video series by yours truly (they’ll all be available online for free):