Fall Is Key For Wine Sales

Some Finger Lake wineries say their sales are up and they're making a comeback after a rough start earlier this year.  

Some owners say the fall is very important for wine sales, especially the month of October.  That’s because visitors are wrapping up their summers and many come out to gather their wine for the holidays.

The owners of Lakewood Vineyards, in Watkins Glen, tell us they were slightly concerned about sales in their second quarter.  The number of visitors were down twenty percent.  They say it was a rainy summer compared to previous ones.  Wineries rely on weekends to make the most sales and if those weekends have bad weather, fewer people show up to wine taste.

“Our June/early summer was pretty soft and we got concerned.  Our numbers were down a bit in that second quarter, but our sales were substantially down, probably about eight percent and we were getting a little nervous,” says Elizabeth Stamp with Lakewood Vineyards.

But Stamp says the sales improved slightly over July, August, and September.  She says many of the local wineries have worked together to put on promotions to increase the number of visitors.