New Direction for the Wine Bar!

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I am pleased to announce that LaVelle Vineyards is entering into an arrangement with Willie's Restaurant to expand the use of LaVelle Wine Bar & Grille as a venue for private parties and other catered events. For Willie's Restaurant, this is an opportunity to gain access to another attractive space for catered events; one where groups can be separated from the restaurant, especially when live music is part of the program. For LaVelle Vineyards, this relationship will free us from the costs and complexities of running a bar and restaurant which have little to do with our core business, and allow us to focus our energies on the things that really matter - our wines, our wine club, and the total wine experience that makes LaVelle Vineyards who we are. I couldn't be more thrilled about this new relationship with one of Eugene's premier caterers and I trust that you, as our most important customers, will feel the same!

So beginning November 1st, we will reduce the hours we are open to the public in order to facilitate this new direction for LaVelle Wine Bar & Grille. Both LaVelle Vineyards and Willie's Restaurant will begin booking private parties in the space, while we maintain regular hours each week for wine club pickups and LaVelle Vineyards events. Here's what the schedule of events looks like for this winter:

Friday Night Flights - We will continue to host this very popular live music event at the wine bar through the winter months, moving it back out to the winery in the late spring.

Wine Club Pickups - We will be open every Friday from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM and every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from Noon to 5:00 PM for wine club pick ups. On many of these weekend days we will host other interesting wine-related experiences, including wine and food pairings, wine education classes, guest winery and brewery tastings, afternoons with the winemaker, our Vino & Painting classes, etc. Watch for more information on these events in the coming weeks.

Ticketed Events - We plan to co-host a series of private, ticketed events with Willie's Restaurant including a New Year's Eve party, a Valentine's Day dinner, and a Mother's Day luncheon, as well as themed Winemaker Dinners every other month throughout the winter.

Private Parties - In addition to the calendar of LaVelle Vineyards events, this venue will be open to for private parties, i.e. birthday parties, wedding rehearsal dinners, business luncheons or dinners, and holiday parties...or how about your own private Duck tailgate parties, a Superbowl party, or other unique celebrations. Wine club members will be eligible for discounts on room rental fees and, of course, wine.

Well, that's about it. Our schedule remains the same until November 1, 2016. After that, we will still be open every Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon for wine club pickups and our own events. The rest of the time, the space will be available for private events. For details, costs, and availability, give Micaela a call at the winery at 541 935-9406.

Cheers 

Doug LaVelle

THE REST OF THE STORY - 

The article above tells you what we are going to do at the wine bar. If you want some insight into why we are doing this the following is, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story."

Our purpose for having an in-town location has always been, first and foremost, to give our wine club members a convenient place to pick up their wine club shipments; and there is no doubt in my mind that having an in-town tasting room has ​helped us build and maintain a large wine club.

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It was July of 1999 when we first opened our tasting room at the 5th St. Market in Eugene, and it was just that - a wine tasting room. However, we soon discovered that an in town tasting room pouring only LaVelle wines and serving no food fulfilled the need for a place for wine club members to pick up their club shipments, but other than that it was not a very interesting place to visit. Early on, therefore, we decided that if we expected people to come in and stay for a while, we needed to offer food. That's when it got complicated. From those early days right through to the present, we have tried many approaches to food service. We offered a limited menu of just cheese plates and other light appetizers (not enough, our customers said), we tried our own chef and own kitchen (too expensive, I said), we tried a collaboration with Marche Restaurant when we were still at the 5th St. Market (too pricey, our customers said), and for the last three years we have had our relationship with Willie's Restaurant (the best solution to the food issue that we have ever had).

Food issue solved; problem solved. Right? Well, no...not exactly. ​​The other thing I learned a long time ago was that trying to cover the cost of operating ​a second location while selling wine at a significant discount from retail

​was never going to be a profitable business model, especially in a high rent shopping center like the 5th St. Market​. Other bars and restaurants buy their wine from distributors at wholesale and then double or even triple the price their customers pay for that wine. However, for LaVelle Vineyards, that just didn't fit our customers' expectations. Why would they get a 20% discount on LaVelle wines at the winery but have to pay retail, or more than retail at the wine bar? In other words, we were caught in a bit of a Catch 22. In order to have an in-town location for wine club pickups we had to run it as a restaurant, however, our own practice of discounting wine to our wine club members made it impossible to run that restaurant profitably. Consequently,​ w​e have​ always looked at the cost of subsidizing our ​second location as an investment in the wine club. That may have been a rationalization but it made sense for a long time, until some of the variables around it began to change.

When we opened a second location back in 1999, the wine industry in this area was very different. There were only a handful of wineries around Eugene and people simply did not go out to the country much to go wine tasting. Today there are many wineries in this area and a lot people go wine tasting in the country - in fact, many prefer it. During the same time period, rent for an in town location more than doubled. Honestly, that's what forced us to move from the 5th St, Market in 2013. Now in 2016, it no longer makes as much sense to have an in-town location as it did back in 1999. Do we still need it? I'm not sure. But I'm not willing to risk losing wine club members by closing it. So what do I do?

Then along comes an opportunity to partner with Willie's Restaurant to use the space for several purposes, i.e. to host our own events, to book it for private parties, and to still be available on a regular basis for wine club pick ups. It's kind of a life saver for me. I can focus on the things that are important to me - my wines and my wine club - and I can be open for wine club members to pick up their wines without all the costs, complications, and problems associated with running a bar and restaurant that have very little to do with my core business. Is it the answer to all my problems related to a second location? I don't know. I really don't. But I figure it's worth a try.

Well, there you have it...the rest of the story. I hope it helps you, my most important customers, understand why I'm doing this. I promise you this - during those times when the wine bar is exclusively ours, we will do our best to put together a package of wine club events and parties at that are interesting, entertaining, and have a little something for everyone.

Cheers!

Doug LaVelle