Crowds gather on state's wine trails

New York wine trails uncorked a surge of about 5 million tourist visits in 2009 that gave a boost to rural economies in the state, the grape and wine industry said.

James Trezise, president of the Canandaigua-based New York Wine & Grape Foundation, reported after a recent meeting with wine trail and regional group representatives that a few trails were essentially flat in 2009 but others, including the Niagara Wine Trail, realized significant growth.

“The Niagara Wine Trail experienced 30 to 40 percent growth due to their promotion program, the ‘staycation’ phenomenon, and the new rules (requiring) passports between the U.S. and Canada, which has reduced cross-border tourism,” Trezise said in the group’s weekly newsletter.

“In other words, Americans who might have gone to the Ontario wine region are now opting for Niagara (USA) instead, and fewer Canadians are crossing the bridges,” he said.

Trezise called it ironic that the Ontario government imposes high customs duties on wines entering Canada, which discourages Canadians from buying wine and taking it home.

In turn, he said, “that leads to ambivalence at wineries when Ontario license plates are spotted (especially on tour buses, since they taste but don’t buy).”

For at least two decades, Trezise said, U.S. and New York officials have failed to persuade the Ontario Liquor Control Board to reduce its border taxes to U.S. levels, which he called “essentially no-existent.”

In 2008, the state’s grape, grape juice and wine industry contributed $3.76 billion to New York’s economy in 2008, according to a new study by a California-based research organization.

The figure is conservative, Trezise said, because new wineries opened in 2009 and tourism and sales also were up modestly.