Sources: Liquor stores pressure winery owners over plan

Rarely has a bottle of wine inspired so much animosity.

As liquor-store owners and distributors push hard against a proposal that would allow wine to be sold in grocery and other stores, backers of the plan say intimidation of winery owners has become a tactic in their arsenal.

Yesterday, a coalition called the Last Store on Main Street released a list of 20 Long Island wineries they say stand with liquor-store owners in opposing Gov. David A. Paterson's proposal.

Throughout Long Island's wine region, reports that liquor-store owners have been besieging wineries with phone calls urging support have been widespread. Individual winery owners have been reluctant to label the calls intimidation, but one observer sees it differently.

"The liquor-store owners are threatening to not do business with wineries if they say they are neutral on the issue," said Joseph Gergela, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau, which supports the wine-in-groceries plan. He said his counterpart at the New York Farm Bureau last week had discussions with state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office to charge that liquor-store owners "are going too far with the threatening." The attorney general's office did not return calls.

Representatives of local liquor stores either deny or downplay the threats. "As a coalition, we don't talk like that," said Jeff Saunders, who heads the Last Store on Main Street group and owns McCabe's Wine and Spirits in Manhattan.

But whether individual stores are telling winery owners they could be dropped if they support the plan is another matter. "We say, 'It's up to you if you want to sell them or not,'" Saunders said. "Understand that emotions are running very high because there's a chance someone's going to take some food from our families' mouths."

Liquor-store owners argue that availability of wine in grocery stores and other retail outlets would decimate liquor stores and make alcohol more available to teens. Paterson's proposal is intended to add hundreds of millions to state coffers - to offset a $15-billion budget deficit - through expanded licensing fees and taxes.

"We're getting a lot of calls from the liquor stores in opposition" to the proposal, said Kenneth Vaglia, general manager of Vineyard 48 in Cutchogue, but he did not characterize the calls as threats.

"As a region, we're trying to remain neutral," Ron Goerler, owner of Jamesport Vineyards, said. "But I'm in liquor stores and I understand why they are upset."

Assemb. Marc Alessi (D-Wading River) is working on a compromise that would allow liquor stores to open multiple outlets, have more flexible hours and sell more than wine and liquor. He said his plan would limit grocery store wine sales to wineries that produce less than 250,000 gallons a year, excluding many mass-market wines.

The plan would also prevent a grocery store in the same shopping center as a liquor store from selling wine.