TRAVERSE CITY — Some 600 to 700 visitors pack Dan Young's tasting room on a busy fall weekend. And nearly half never buy anything.
Under the state's new liquor law, that could change.
The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, most notably allows liquor sales on Sunday mornings and Christmas. But the same measure, created to increase sales in the state and benefit retailers and jobs, also allows wineries to charge for samples — an idea championed by many area vintners.
Young, of Tandem Ciders, a unique stop on the Leelanau wine trail, said offering free tastes is part of the cost of doing business.
"If everybody has 3 or 4 ounces it starts to add up," said Young, who specializes in hard ciders. "That's why we do draft ciders. It doesn't cost as much to put on. We're a small operation, so it's a lot of labor to put ciders into the bottle. It does get disheartening when you see the number of empty tasting bottles you've just poured."
Young said he's "moving toward" charging for some samples to help offset the cost of bottling the cider.
"We'll offer a few free samples if someone has never had hard cider before. But if someone wanted to try a full array of our ciders, we'll charge for samples starting at the beginning of the year," he said. "It's a good way to get a little more revenue."
Many wineries still are mulling what to do.
"I don't think that anyone likes to give away their product for free all day long," said Andrew McFarlane, spokesman for the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association. "You can find that out if you go to a clothing store and say, 'I want to try on some socks.' Most businesses just don't do that. It's a cost. Wineries spend thousands to tens of thousands of dollars or more on free wine each year. Despite that, there will be wineries that will still offer free samples."
Longview Winery in Cedar may be one of them. Owner Alan Eaker said he will have to consider whether the risk of losing the goodwill of his customers, many of whom return to buy wine after complimentary tastings, is worth charging a fee. While the old law prohibits wineries from charging for samples, some wineries charge for souvenir glasses or food pairings that include the tastings.
"I give away $35,000 of wine a year because I don't charge," said Eaker, whose winery off the beaten path makes 14 red, white and specialty wines. "I get people that come in the tasting room that say to me, 'Thank you for not charging. We like to taste the wines before we buy.'"
If he were to start charging for tastings, Eaker said he might offer a refund with a purchase or adopt a club approach in which customers become members after the purchase of a case and are entitled to free tastings.
The law also means restaurants will be able to offer up to two free samples of beer or wine per customer.
"As it sits right now we have to charge if somebody wants a sample," said Nikki Ackley, who runs the Cedar Rustic Inn with her husband, Aaron. "If somebody isn't sure about a Riesling and wants a sample, we have to charge 50 cents for it."
Ackley said the restaurant offers 16 beers on tap and in bottles and a wine list of about 25 wines. They include regional wines from Leelanau Cellars, Chateau Grand Traverse, Good Harbor and Black Star Farms but not — ironically — from Longview, whose tasting room is next door.
"Part of the reason we can't serve my father-in-law's wines is because he holds the liquor license for the winery and my mother-in-law holds the license for the restaurant and because they're married, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission won't let them do business together," Ackley said.
In another twist, the bill will allow grocery stores and other alcohol retailers to offer up to three free beer and wine samples to shoppers.
But the bill comes too late for Ken Burritt, owner of Burritt's Fresh Markets, who in July got a new — and expensive — Class C transferable liquor license in order to allow his customers to try before they buy.
"My main intent was to let people taste wine before paying $40 or $50 a bottle, which they might not want to invest if they don't like it," said Burritt, whose wine bar at the front of the store features 8 to 12 wines at a time and hosts Thursday "sample nights" with appetizers.
In addition, under the terms of the license, Burritt has to charge for the tastings.
While the license gives him advantages over the new law, such as the ability to have wine dinners or offer more than three samples, "would I have spent the $50,000 on it before? Probably not," he said.
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