Important new wine facility opens for harvest SLO Wine Storage owners Mike Kyle and Robert Trudeau have just expanded his business to become the San Luis Obispo area’s first custom crush facility. Kyle and Trudeau have leased the former Corbett Canyon facilities that Rob Rossi and Bill Swanson bought last year. Vintners and grape growers can now get their grapes crushed, fermented, stored, bottled and delivered locally instead of sending their grapes elsewhere. This is important to the local economy, since wine as a product has a higher value than grapes. It also will strengthen San Luis Obispo’s wine, tourism and lifestyle brands. The not-so-bitter “afterTaste”: SLO Downtown’s Taste to close… The bold experiment by the San Luis Obispo Vintners Association to have a cooperative wine tasting facility downtown will soon come to an end. Insiders report that the state-of-the-art tasting machine that kept the wines fresh, could serve up dozens of different wines and was a great marketing tool for the local wine country did not attract the necessary number of tasters, especially in this difficult year. The decision in 2003 to invest in Taste had caused a deep rift between the vintners in favor and those opposed to the tasting room and eight of the 24 wineries eventually left the association. A decision was made in May to not renew the Taste lease, the equipment has been sold to an out-of-town firm and Taste is expected to be closed before the holidays. The good news: now all 24 bonded wineries are back together and are moving into their 20th year as an association. …But a new wine bar will open soon in the Wineman A new wine bar will likely be part of the Wineman Hotel restoration. An application has been filed with the City for a wine bar to front on the alley behind the hotel with some outdoor tables. Stores like this are enhancing SLO’s appeal to the “lifestyle tourists,” a group that is one of our major target markets. Annual member survey: your chance to get a lot off your chest The Chamber prides itself on being a totally member-driven organization. As the Chamber Board goes into its 2010 planning retreat, what you think, what you feel, and what you want will decide the direction of the Chamber. The attached online survey has been tested to take only 10 minutes. Invest this time in helping the Chamber to help your business. Click here to take the survey.

Quick Links:

Slo-business.com | Slochamber.org | Visitslo.com |  Business Directory