One is a vineyard and winery on one of Vermont’s most crowded routes, attracting plenty of visitors and buyers. The other is a cider maker off the state’s beaten paths that has had to develop a robust distribution system.
Now, Shelburne Vineyard and Eden Ciders are merging to take advantage of what each has to offer, according to the vineyard’s founder.
“It’s sort of a synergistic kind of alliance,” said Ken Albert, who founded Shelburne Vineyard in 1998.
Albert said the vineyard and winery, located south of Burlington on Route 7, has “probably … one of the best retail locations for any farm-like location.”
Meanwhile, he said Eleanor Leger, who founded Eden Ciders in the Northeast Kingdom in 2007, is “located in an area in Newport, Vermont, which is probably one of the least positive places for retail sales.”
As a result, Leger was concentrating on distributing her cider.
“She developed a very large distribution network out of state,” Albert said. “We’ll be helped by working with her distributor network.”
And in turn Albert said he could offer Leger a place to sell cider directly to consumers who drive in to taste the wine.
Leger did not respond to a voicemail left at Eden Ciders on Friday.
Albert said he also hopes to take advantage of Eden Ciders’ platform for online sales.
There will be no layoffs as a result of the merger, he said, calling the two organizations “pretty tight ships.”
“I’ve got four full-time people that make wine-slash-work in the vineyard. If I would lose one of those people, I’d have to give up some of the grapevines,” he said. “It’s not like I could afford to lay off people. We can’t.”
Albert said he employs “something above” the equivalent of 10 full-time employees. He believed Eden employed fewer people.
Shelburne Vineyard grows grapes that are hybrids of European and North American varieties that can withstand temperatures of 20 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.
“I think they make wonderful wines,” said Albert.
Leger will be the chief executive officer of the merged company, which will preserve its separate brand identities, according to an email from Albert to Shelburne Vineyard employees.
For internal purposes only, the new company will be called ESV Holdings, Albert wrote in the email announcing the merger.
“This is not a case of one company ‘absorbing’ the other!” he wrote.
Albert wrote that he and his wife, Gail, will ease into retirement but keep an ownership stake. Sam Coppola and Scott Prom, minority owners, would also continue to keep a stake in the company, Albert said, as would all of Eden Ciders’ shareholders.
He and Leger plan to meet with employees on Monday, he wrote. In her own email to Shelburne Vineyard staff, Leger wrote that she is “committed to working with you all to carefully steward our company into the future, building on the strong foundation that Ken and Gail have worked so hard to establish.”
The merger comes days after two other Vermont beverage companies announced a joint marketing agreement, in which a canned gin and tonic made with Barr Hill gin at Montpelier-based Caledonia Spirits, would be distributed by The Beer Guy, the distribution company of Lawson’s Finest founder Sean Lawson.
