Premium Wine Group in Mattituck makes wine for more than a dozen local companies. Juan Micieli-Martinez, winemaker and special projects manager at Premium, talked about the company's plans for expansion. 信用:Randee Daddona

长岛葡萄酒行业状态的指标可能没有比高耸的不锈钢葡萄酒桶的积累更好的指标,而不锈钢葡萄酒桶的积累是马蒂塔克(Mattituck)的高必威手机登录级葡萄酒集团(Premium Wine Group)周边。

但是,这家20岁公司的进度是为十几个当地生产商酿造葡萄酒,而不仅仅是一个长岛葡萄酒区域增长和信誉的故事。

It’s also a story of a local company with international reach that has brought wine from some of the world’s best-known regions to Long Island to be bottled and sent off to market.

如今,从压碎葡萄到运输成品案件的所有功能都在完成合同业务中最大的一部分 - 来自全球各地的葡萄酒,用于将集装箱装载到长岛,用于装瓶和运输到区域分销商。

Russell Hearn, chief executive officer of Premium Wine Group, at the...“src=

Premium Wine Group首席执行官Russell Hearn在公司Mattituck总部。Credit: Mark Harrington

For Russell Hearn, the chief executive officer who has run the business since its 2000 inception, Premium’s record of steady growth, despite a period of uncertainty when the company changed hands in 2013, is one that he expects to continue apace — growth that is justifying the new owner’s $2.75 million in investments for new storage tanks and a modernized bottling operation that will triple its current capacity. The company is in the planning stages of increasing warehouse space next year, with another $1 million investment.

赫恩说,该公司生产的120,000加仑葡萄酒在2020年就增加到了约35万加仑。他说,到2022年,总产量可能超过450,000加仑。Premium's annual revenue for 2020 was $3.56 million, according to a Dun & Bradstreet estimate.

他说:“当地的葡萄生产不断增长。”2000年,八个当地种植者生产的450吨葡萄在2020年增长到约1900吨,标签数量增加了一倍。

赫恩说:“当地种植者的数量增加了,其质量也增加了。”

就案例而言,今年Premium在2020年生产的125,000箱葡萄酒可能会跃升至140,000。

客户转变的所有者

高级葡萄酒集团在Mattituck物业上设有品尝室。“src=

Premium Wine Group has a tasting room on the Mattituck property.信用:Randee Daddona

Scarsdale的控股公司Premium,Catamount Liquid Assets的负责人Jef必威手机登录frey Haas说:“北叉的葡萄酒行业仍有很大的潜在增长。”“有很多英亩的土地可以种植。它不会在一夜之间发生,但最终该地区将变得更加健壮。”长岛目前有大约3,000英亩的藤蔓。

Haas从2009年开始是Premium的客户,但有机会在2018年将公司从接管中购买并跳下来。

赫恩(Hearn)于1998年制定了Premium的原始业务计划,并与两个合作伙伴Mark Lieb和Bernie Sussman合作,启动了公司。当时,赫恩(Hearn)是经营伙伴,而利布(Lieb)和苏斯曼(Sussman)是财务伙伴。Lieb已经拥有Lieb酒窖,包括50英亩的葡萄园,除了高级。2013年,一个投资集团Southport Lane Management以675万美元的价格购买了Premium,并以600万美元的价格收购了Lieb Cellars。在绍斯波特(Southport)遇到了不相关的法律麻烦之后,包括证券和交易委员会调查后,哈斯在2018年购买了两者。675万美元包括Premium的品牌和设备,这是Liebs以前由Liebs拥有的葡萄园庄园,以及Lieb的葡萄园和品牌。

与李葡萄园一起生长

Winemaker and special projects manager at Premium Wine Group Juan...“src=

高级葡萄酒集团的酿酒师兼特殊项目经理Juan Micieli-Martinez在Mattituck的Tank Bation中。信用:Randee Daddona

对于赫恩来说,增长是长岛葡萄酒开拓者及其继任者努力工作的结果,以提高当地葡萄园的质量和产量。

“The Long Island wine industry has been around for the last 40 or 45 years, but in the last 20 years especially, while I wouldn’t say that we’ve finally ‘made it,’ I would say we finally got credibility in the New York area and outside the New York area. Several wineries have seen some pretty rapid growth."

哈斯说,他认为北叉正在发生的房地产繁荣也将推动葡萄酒行业。必威手机登录他说,他认为该地区的未来25年将是“变革性的”。

“我认为朝鲜叉会明显cant renaissance," he said. "Maybe a birth, not a rebirth. Less than a third of the acreage that could be planted for vineyard is currently planted. And presumably more will be transformed into vineyard and there will be more of a need for Premium's services."

Southold的Onabay Vineyards的所有者Chiara Edmands说,Premium是“葡萄酒制作的脑枢纽”,该葡萄园已经在Premium酿造​​了大约十年。她说,与Premium合作“使我们可以抵消粉碎,制作和储存葡萄酒的一些成本”,同时提供该地区一些最好的思想。

装瓶成本可能是“过于刺激的”

“装瓶的基础设施对于小...“src=

“The infrastructure for bottling can be cost-prohibitive for a small vineyard," said Chiara Edmands, owner of Onabay Vineyards of Southold.信用:Randee Daddona

每个生产商都在高级制作葡萄酒中,从压碎和发酵到储存和装瓶,都可以控制和参与。该地区一些最著名的酿酒师源于Premium,包括Pindar Vineyards的酿酒师Erik Bilka。

“The infrastructure for bottling can be cost-prohibitive for a small vineyard," Edmands said, noting the vineyard sells grapes to other producers to offset some of its costs. "It's a good think tank for people out there."

近年来,大多数增长溢价都来自合同装瓶的激增,这是在世界各地制造的葡萄酒以及使用高级高科技系统将其装瓶,打包和运送到美国市场的业务。

Bottling not only brings in significant new business for Premium; it helps maximize the company’s investment in equipment because it makes use of equipment year-round that otherwise might sit idle after the fall and Long Island's winter grape harvest, winemaking and bottling. "It uses equipment and space that would typically be empty for six months of the year," Hearn said.

Premium has had a contract-bottling operation for the past eight or nine years, but has seen "dramatic" double-digit growth in the past two to three years, Hearn said.

This year, the company will upgrade its bottling operation to increase capacity to 8,000 bottles an hour from the current 3,500. The new system will be "totally automated," said Hearn, requiring little human intervention from bottle to pallet.

该公司计划在来年将其背部的一部分转换为约9,000平方英尺的存储容量。目前的局促办公空间将增加约1,800平方英尺。

为外国酿酒师储蓄

很容易理解为什么外国酿酒师看到马蒂塔克装瓶的优势。

赫恩说,外国葡萄酒是在特殊的20英尺液体容器中运送的,可以容纳相当于2700箱葡萄酒。一个40英尺的装饰瓶装葡萄酒只能容纳1200箱。节省的价格为每箱7至8美元。

高级人士还看到,外国酿酒师试图避免在特朗普政府下的严重关税。当他们的瓶装葡萄酒到达美国海岸时,法国公司面临25%的关税,这增加了这里的装瓶的吸引力。此后,关税已被放松。

Roots in LI wine country

Lieb Cellars品尝室在Cutchogue。“src=

Lieb Cellars品尝室在Cutchogue。信用:Randee Daddona

Premium’s earliest days were built on its ability to serve a small circle of local growers who looked for economy in making wines while tending to their grapes.

赫恩说:“四十年前,这些长岛葡萄园和酿酒厂主要是某人的第二企业。”这些早期的先驱者中有许多已经过了或出售了葡萄园,但是在某些情况下,例如Paumanok葡萄园和詹姆斯波特葡萄园,第二代人正在采取这项工作来培养和改善业务。

赫恩说:“现在有许多生产商做得很好。现在,长岛葡萄酒行业的状态非常好。”必威手机登录

他说,例如,长岛早期的品牌之一利布酒窖仅在八或九年前才在纽约购买,现在在12个州销售。

高级品牌

The Premium stable of brands also includes the Pump House brand, which Haas bought from Hearn in 2013, and has cultivated into a popular brand selling in small containers to restaurants. Premium also owns the Bridge Lane brand, which Haas described as "more approachable, lifestyle brand," available in 4-pack bottles, cans, boxes and kegs. "It's the predominant brand of the wholesale side of the business," he said.

Among the wines being made by Premium are RG|NY wines, formerly operated as Martha Clara Vineyards and now run by the Rivero Gonzalez family; Croteaux; Clovis Point Vineyard, Harbes Vineyard, and Hearn’s own wine brand, Suhru Wines, with a tasting room on Main Road in Cutchogue. Onabay Vineyards and Brooklyn Oenology wines are also made at Premium.

尽管大流行的严峻影响,但当地市场仍在继续增长,该季节在2020年初开始关闭了品尝室。赫恩说,关闭使当地生产商最好的是最好的,许多人在迎合他们的长期本地客户的同时,在线吸引了新的观众。玛丽亚·里维罗·冈萨雷斯(Maria Rivero-Gonzalez)出售了品酒包并在线提供教程;其他人,例如Sannino Vineyards,使用其停车场将葡萄酒与其他当地农产品搭配使用。乔瓦尼·博尔格斯(Giovanni Borghese)开始向波士顿,佛罗里达州和加利福尼亚的葡萄酒运送葡萄酒。

The No. 1 issue

在桥梁车道品酒室内。“src=

在桥梁车道品酒室内。信用:Randee Daddona

当地的增长稳步稳定,以至于赫恩(Hearn)对当地市场的主要关注正在跟上需求。

“北叉葡萄酒的第一期短期问题是什么?”他说。“供应。我们作为一个地区的未来投入不足。我们还没有种植足够的新葡萄藤来满足需求。

The problem is rooted in a concern five years ago that the market was experiencing a glut, Hearn said. "It never came to fruition."诸如Soloviev之类的新参与者正在积累生产能力,同时计划将他们的酒庄和品尝室的运营降落。RG | NY进行了一些新的种植,Pindar和Southold的一位女葡萄酒和葡萄园也是如此。赫恩说,需要更多。

Hearn attributes the increase in demand to an increased consciousness among consumers of locally grown products.

Overall traffic might be lower during a time of COVID-consciousness, he said, but "more serious" people are coming to tasting rooms like his own, Suhru Wines. "There’s fewer people but larger volumes," sold to those more serious wine lovers,他说。

赫恩说,鉴于其相对年龄,长岛葡萄酒地区的增长继续给他留下深刻的印象。

他说:“在这么短的时间内,长岛的行业已经走了很长一段时间。”“世界上有数百年酿造葡萄酒的其他地区会着眼于我们的地区,并说:'您只有40多年的历史,您就已经建立了。'“

Wines made at Premium Wine Group

北叉的酿酒设施与当地葡萄园和葡萄酒商合同,以接管从压碎葡萄到运输成品的任务。它的装瓶设施也适合外国公司,计划今年升级到每小时8,000瓶。在与Premium合作的长岛品牌中:

RG|NY(以前是玛莎·克拉拉(Martha Clara))

Croteaux葡萄园

Clovis Point

哈伯斯

Suhru葡萄酒

Onabay葡萄园

Brooklyn Oenology

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