WOOSTER, Ohio — Wineries across Ohio are seeking support during this health crisis.
- A "Super Sipper Saturday" event will be held May 2 to help the wine industry recover
- Ohio-grown wine can be purchased and shipped right to your door
- Vineyard owners are hoping the event will help other struggling small business owners
“There’s a good chance that some wineries are not going to survive this, along with other businesses,” said Jim Borton.
Jim Borton is the owner of Lincoln Way Vineyards in Wooster, Ohio. He says since the shutdown the winery has lost half of their business
“At least 50 percent in our sales over where we thought we would be, said Borton. "We are a fairly new winery, only been open for 18 months, but looking year over year for the months we’ve been open, we were seeing a doubling in sales, then after the shutdown, the pandemic, our sales are back down to where they were a year ago, if not even lower."
To help the wine industry recover from the shutdown there will be an event called “Super Sipper Saturday” on May 2. So, this weekend you can buy some bottles of Ohio-grown wine and it will be shipped right to your front door.
Sponsored by TheWineBuzz media company in Cleveland, Super Sipper Saturday features wineries all over the state.
Some vineyard owners, like Tara Bright, who is the owner of Sunny Slope Winery in northwest Ohio, are hoping this event will help other small business owners struggling during these uncertain times.
“Doing this promotion together, just us all collaborating together, is just going to bring a lot of awareness to Ohio wines and, ya know, coming out and shopping at Ohio wineries instead of maybe at the big box store to get your wine, I think it’s gonna be a great promotional plan” said Bright.
“And anything we can do to promote local businesses, and in this case the Super Sipper Saturday, I think that’s gonna be good for Ohio businesses and Ohio wineries," said Borton.
Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, more than 8,000 winery jobs are in jeopardy.
Ohio’s wine industry and its 330 small business wineries are losing money fast.
Borton says he applied and received a Paycheck Protection Plan loan which is helping his winery from being crushed.
“Well, right now it’s helping pay for the crew that’s working out in the vineyard. We still have vineyard work to do even through this shutdown. If we are not selling as much wine, we still hope to have a harvest this fall and be able to make more wine this fall” said Borton.
More information on Super Sipper Saturday can be found on TheWineBuzz website.