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| Photo by WILL YURMAN |
Thanks to the Internet, grape growers in New York have access to more markets in more places.
The New York Grape and Wine Classifieds “” essentially a statewide eBay for wineries and vineyards “” was created nine years ago by Cornell Cooperative Extension, which this year has expanded and redesigned the service to help growers deal with a potential surplus.
“Growers are having trouble finding markets this year because the wineries have bought up so many grapes the last few years,” said Hans Walter-Peterson, a viticulture specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Yates County.
The winegrape crop in New York is worth more than $30 million annually, ranking third in the country behind California and Washington. While the Finger Lakes region is the largest and perhaps best-known of the state’s grape-growing areas, the state Department of Agriculture and Markets says Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Lake Erie/Chautauqua area also are major centers of production.
“You might know what your neighbors have to sell, but maybe not what’s available in the next county or out on Long Island, for example,” said Walter-Peterson.
The site has been expanded this year to include a location for buying and selling farm equipment.
Currently, there are more than 1,500 tons of grapes listed for sale on the Cooperative Extension site. That amount should rise as harvest approaches and growers have a better sense of their surpluses.
“I have a customer in Georgia and one in Michigan, and I wouldn’t have made those contacts without the classifieds. I don’t have time to be calling 500 wineries all over the country,” said Jim Bediant, owner of Bediant Vineyards on Keuka Lake.
Melvin Hoover, owner of Hoover Winery in Penn Yan, has sold four tons of grapes through the site so far, and has another 260 tons listed for sale.
The New York Wine and Grape Foundation is promoting the site to wineries across state lines this year, hoping to attract even more buyers to New York grapes.
In particular, the foundation is targeting states in the Midwest, where grape crops were hurt by late spring frosts and are expected to be below average this season.
By Eric Boehm
August 11, 2009
source: democratandchronicle.com