N.Ky. wines come to market & Ky. distillers dispirited

N.Ky. wines come to market

By Mike Rutledge Enquirer staff writer

ALEXANDRIA - Northern Kentucky wines soon may make their way onto the shelves of some larger local stores, winemaker Larry Leap said Thursday.

The head wine buyer for Party Source, Mary Dorr, visited Thursday at Leap's home-based Lost Heritage Vineyards winery, Leap said.

"She put in an order for 15 cases," Leap said. "She told me to deliver them on Tuesday, and they're going to get them on the shelf."

Dorr wasn't available to comment Thursday, but one of her colleagues confirmed plans by the Party Source, which has a location in Bellevue, to market Northern Kentucky wines.

"We're in the process of meeting with them, sampling through the wines and seeing what we're going to carry," said Party Source wine associate T.J. Christie.

"We don't carry any currently, but it is on the horizon," Christie said.

"I think it's wonderful that there's local wines that are available," Christie said. "That's something we in the industry have always looked forward to."

There are other developments for the local wine industry, which flourished here during the 19th century:

The Northern Kentucky Vintners & Grape Growers Association, which is encouraging people to plant grape vines, will hold a workshop at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Kentucky's Gallatin County Extension Office, 395 U.S. 42 in Warsaw.

Organizers plan to host a wine-and-food festival in late September at St. Joseph Church in Camp Springs.

A local panel of restaurateurs, wine buyers and media people met Feb. 1 and evaluated six Kentucky wines during a blind tasting, three of which will have golden seals to put on the bottles. The panel will meet in April to consider others.

Meanwhile, Party Source plans to open an area in its store this spring where it will offer cooking classes and tastings of wines, spirits and beers.

E-mail snipped-for-privacy@enquirer.com

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Ky. distillers dispirited by sales tax proposal

By Elisabeth J. Beardsley The Courier-Journal

FRANKFORT - Kentucky's master bourbon distillers told lawmakers Thursday that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's plan to extend the 6 percent sales tax to alcoholic beverages would take customers and jobs away from one of the state's signature industries.

But legislative leaders from both parties joined Fletcher in saying they favor some level of increased taxation on alcoholic beverages sold at package stores.

Officials from Maker's Mark Distillery, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey and Brown-Forman Corp., which makes Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's, appealed to House budget writers to protect a native product.

The distillers said Kentucky already imposes an excise tax of $1.92 per gallon on spirits makers.

There's also a 9 percent tax on wholesalers' gross receipts. Adding a 6 percent tax on retail sales would drive Kentucky's bourbon taxes to the highest in the nation, they said.

Maker's Mark president and CEO Bill Samuels Jr., who's planning a $35 million expansion to his Marion County facilities, said he worries that a Kentucky alcohol tax increase would encourage other states.

"It really makes us vulnerable to an increased activity at all the other state levels," Samuels said, "which shakes the confidence of investors and eventually that backs down to lost jobs, lost interest in investment in the industry."

The Kentucky Malt Beverage Council also opposed the Fletcher proposal, with several border retailers arguing that higher prices would cost them business from out-of-state customers. Under current law, customers do not pay a sales tax on alcohol sold at package stores, but they do pay a sales tax on alcoholic beverages at restaurants. Fletcher says it's fair to tax all alcohol the same. His proposal is projected to raise an extra $40.5 million in its first year.

House Budget Committee chairman Harry Moberly said political considerations would require some sort of alcohol tax increase to garner support for a cigarette tax increase.

"I'd be surprised if there was enough votes to pass the alcohol tax at 6 percent," Moberly, D-Richmond, said. "I would think there'd be more votes to do something less."

Senate President David Williams said he had "no problem" with the alcohol tax. "I don't think it will impact sales at all," said Williams, R-Burkesville. "I believe that if anyone buys enough beer or liquor that a

6 percent sales tax would impact their lifestyle, that they need to consider how much beer or liquor they're drinking."

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