Date: 4 Sept 01
From: Doug
Caskey, executive director
Colorado Wine Industry Development
Board
Phone: 720.304.3406
TO:
All Colorado wineries
RE:
dates and updates
Liquor Enforcement Rule Change
I met with Matt Cook and Don Pierce of Liquor Enforcement last week to express my concerns on behalf of the Colorado wine industry about the regulation change they are proposing which would require Colorado wineries to go through the approval process with the local licensing authority for any "permanent" remote tasting room location. Potentially, this could mean a winery would have to go through the costly and time-consuming neighborhood petition process required by many of the local licensing authorities, especially on the Front Range.
Matt and Don agreed to change some of the language in their proposed regulation to address some of my concerns: 1) a winery’s primary on-site tasting room will not be affected by this change; 2) a "permanent" tasting room is one that will operate for 30 or more continuous days, so farmers’ markets and other periodic licenses would not be affected; 3) manufacturing and limited wineries will fall under the same standards and neither will be subjected to the standards required for the newly created distiller’s tasting rooms.
Unfortunately, we could not reach a compromise on the fundamental issue of the applicability of local review and "the needs of the neighborhood." I maintained that the Colorado Wine Industry Development Act contains language calling for special dispensation when considering small, agricultural-based businesses such as wineries. They maintain that the liquor code statutes mandate local approval and considerations of the needs of the neighborhood for each and every license application.
I have referred the issue to Donna Rice of the Attorney General’s office for consideration. This issue will have to be resolved at the rule change hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 9:30 AM in the Gaming Conference Room, Dept. of Revenue, 1881 Pierce St. in Lakewood. I hope we can muster a good showing. Please attend if at all possible.
Events and Opportunities
Saturday, October 13, 3-7 pm: Glenwood Springs Art Center Benefit at the Hotel Colorado. If you would like to pour your wine at this event, please call Sharon Beatty (970.945.0163). I will be pouring a sampling of Colorado wine on the same evening at the Red Cross Benefit in Denver, so will not be able to pour wine in Glenwood. But I will give a "promotional allowance" to the wineries participating in Glenwood.
Friday, November 9, 6:30-9:30 pm: Conifer Chamber of Commerce Benefit at Bailey’s Farmers Union. This event for probably 100-200 very enthusiastic and wine-starved consumers will be licensed as a Wine Fest so you will be able to pour tastes and sell glasses and bottles. We still need a winery to volunteer to pull the permit for this event.
Friday, December 7 – Sunday, December 9: Telluride Holiday Colorado Tasting. The Telluride Conference Center is eager to attract attention, so is hosting this inaugural event, showcasing Colorado wineries and food producers. Preliminary plans call for a trade tasting on Friday afternoon, and a smorgasbord sampling dinner open to the public Friday night. Saturday will consist of a series of seminars on food, wine and food and wine. Claude Robbins, MWA, has already agreed to lead some of the seminars. The Colorado Proud program is contacting their members and the Telluride chapter of the Restaurant Association is participating. Saturday night is planned as a sit-down wine dinner, preceded by a wine-tasting reception and followed by a brunch Sunday morning.
Our hope is to recreate some of the magic of those Colorado wine weekends at Beaver Creek. It will also give you a chance to make some connections in a very wine-savvy restaurant market that is otherwise difficult to reach. Details are still in the planning stages, but the CWIDB should be able to cover your room costs for the weekend. Telluride is handling marketing of the event and is providing us the conference center at no charge. Please put these dates on your calendar and plan to attend. Call me with any questions.
My thanks go to Diana Read of Cottonwood Cellars for making the initial contacts with John Birchmore at Telluride and for making this event happen.
Tuesday, January 29-30, 2002: Colorado Restaurant Association’s WestEx at the Denver Merchandise Mart. Mark these dates on your calendar, as the CWIDB’s Colorado Food and Wine Pairing competition will be held probably on the 29th.
Many of you have seen or heard of Bill St. John’s pointed comments about the failings of the Colorado wine industry in the Denver Post on 8/22/01. The following day Steve Raabe published an article in the Post’s Business Section about the growth and achievements of our industry. I am attaching copies of both.
Whatever small gains we may make in our market share among Colorado wine drinkers, we are still faced with the fact that most people out there think like Bill St. John. It is not Bill St. John’s or any other writer’s fault that retailers, restaurateurs and consumers hesitate to buy Colorado wine. Many years of tasting deficient Colorado wine have left them with an indelible bad taste in their mouth.
The only way to clear away our bad reputation is with quality. We can’t afford to put anything less than the absolute best we are capable of in each and every bottle. If you can get that retailer or restaurateur to taste your wine, the quality in your bottle must be so high it generates enough enthusiasm to overcome the resistance of that retailer’s customers. One sip of Colorado wine must compel the taster to tell all his friends and relations about how good it is. That is the best marketing we can purchase—exceptional and surprising quality in every bottle.
Bill’s comments do contain a few inaccuracies. For instance, he needs to review what is classified as wine by the BATF. And for the record, of the 45 Colorado wines Bill tasted at the Colorado Wine Competition in Manitou Springs last fall, 15 he scoredas commercially acceptable (70 points or above on a 100 point scale) —or 33%! What I wish he would point out is that those 15 red wines and many other Colorado wines outscored Sterling Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (58.6) and Coppola Syrah (45.6, sorry Richard). And why not mention the two Colorado Gewürztraminers (Colorado Cellars and Carlson) that outscored the Trimbach by at least 20 points?
The reason is that people are willing
to overlook the bad wines from California and France because they perceive
those places as making good wine. They are unwilling to forgive the mistakes
of a young Colorado industry, especially when our wines are in a rather
unforgivable price point ($10-20). I urge you to take heart in the news
of our increased market share, no matter how small it seems. We have all
learned that Colorado wines are good and they are respectable. I hope you
will take Bill St. John’s column as a wake up call, as inspiration to improve
your wines and take our industry to the next level.
Subject:
FW: Colorado Retail Wine Sales
Date:
Tue, 4 Sep 2001 09:46:48 -0600
From:
"dcaskey" <dcaskey@coloradowine.com>
Reply-To:
<dcaskey@qwest.net>
CC:
"Nancy Janes (E-mail)" <wwhill@mindspring.com>
Thank you for your interest in Colorado wines.
I am attaching the most recent figures
for Colorado wine production based on
the taxes collected by the Dept. of
Revenue. Please understand that these
figures are not directly based on
the sale of Colorado wine, but rather on
the taxes paid on Colorado wine moved
out of all wineries' bonded storage.
Our sales figure of $5 million for
fiscal year 2001 is based on an a guess
that Colorado wine averages about
$10 per bottle.
If you have other questions, please feel free to contact me.
Doug Caskey, executive director
Colorado Wine Industry Development
Board
4550 Sioux Drive
Boulder, CO 80303-3733
Ph: 720.304.3406 / Fax: 720.304.3405
www.coloradowine.com
Colorado Wine Production and Market Share
| based on tax revenue figures | Avg. retail bottle comparison | ||||||||
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All wine Liters |
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$1,224,000.00
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$227,015,448.00
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110.74%
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101.03%
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109.61%
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$1,355,466.67
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$229,350,285.33
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115.15%
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105.64%
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109.00%
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$1,560,800.00
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$242,295,042.67
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96.67%
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102.12%
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94.66%
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$1,508,800.00
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$247,434,632.00
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88.07%
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110.52%
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79.69%
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$1,328,800.00
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$273,453,496.00
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251.01%
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101.18%
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248.08%
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$3,335,466.67
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$276,683,954.67
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102.23%
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97.25%
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105.12%
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$3,409,760.00
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$269,071,042.35
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120.50%
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104.97%
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114.80%
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$4,108,840.00
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$282,433,033.15
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103.23%
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108.74%
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94.93%
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$4,241,544.27
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$307,113,147.92
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119.28%
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110.86%
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107.59%
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$5,059,240.00
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$340,468,591.49
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Colorado Winery Production by Region
| I. Front Range | II. Grand Valley | III. Western Slope | ||||||||||
| FY | # of Ltrs | Tax $ Pd. | % of Ltrs | % of $ | # of Ltrs | Tax $ Pd. | % of Ltrs | % of $ | # of Ltrs | Tax $ Pd. | % of Ltrs | % of $ |
| 99/00 |
38,998.85
|
$1,384.59
|
14.00%
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14.01%
|
209,035.25
|
$6,920.00
|
75.03%
|
70.03%
|
30,586.50
|
$1,576.37
|
10.98%
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3.32%
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| 00/01 |
55,838.60
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$2,514.95
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14.72%
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18.73%
|
288,156.53
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$9,238.20
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75.94%
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68.79%
|
35,447.75
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$1,676.72
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9.34%
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2.51%
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