Naples Grape Festival abounds in food, wine
Jars of Nunda Mustard have traveled far and wide, to places like the Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum in Wisconsin and a gourmet mustard shop in Cork, Ireland.
This weekend, all nine varieties are available for sampling and purchase at the Naples Grape Festival in Naples, Ontario County. Thousands of visitors are expected for the festival, which features wine samplings, a grape pie contest, live music and lots of food.
Festival-goers flocked to Ron and Wendy Ochs' mustard booth on Saturday morning, dipping pretzels into open jars. The Ochses concoct their mustard flavors — from original Tangy to Cajun Onion and Honey Brew — in their Nunda home, an approved food processing facility.
The couple expects to sell between 1,000 and 1,400 jars of mustard at the Grape Festival, Ron Ochs said.
"We get a good cash flow to carry us through the wintertime," he said.
Ron and Wendy got the idea for their business more than 10 years ago, when they brought some Tangy mustard to a work function. Wendy had made the mustard from a recipe passed down from Ron's grandmother, Mary Magdalen Ochs.
"A guy I worked with offered me money for a jar, and that's what started the whole business," said Ron, who eventually quit his job at a machine shop in Honeoye Falls to manage the operation full time.
Nunda Mustard isn't the only business that benefits financially from the Grape Festival. Area wineries sell a lot of products, especially now that the town allows a wine-tasting tent on the premises.
The tent made its debut last year. Festival Executive Director Donna Nichols-Scott said Naples has a strict policy prohibiting alcohol on town property, but an exception was made for the tent provided proper controls were implemented. There is an 8-ounce wine limit for each visitor, and samples are about half an ounce each. Admission to the tent is $5.
Part of the town's concern stems from Grape Festival's history. The festival began in the 1960s, Scott said, but it was shut down in the 1970s when a carnival atmosphere started to dominate.
"It got a little out of control, like everything did in the '70s," Scott said.
When the Grape Festival made a comeback in the early 1990s, the focus was on arts and crafts, regional music and food. But last year, Scott wanted to make the festival fresh. She proposed the wine tent and it's been a success.
"What (the festival) is promoting is the region, and wine is an intrinsic part of that," Scott said.
Naples has three wineries, including Arbor Hill in the hamlet of Bristol Springs. Owner John Brahm had four wines on display in the tent. The raspberry and peach wine beverages had labels specially designed for Grape Festival.
"A lot of people get into the wine business for the romance," said Brahm, who has lived in the Finger Lakes region his whole life. "Maybe that's one reason that I got into it ... It's challenging, but very rewarding."