Village of Hamburg to hold wine tasting event Oct. 6

As the wine flows, good times will roll at the inaugural Hamburg Wine About. The village-wide wine-tasting event on Saturday, Oct. 6 invites people to visit participating local businesses, where they can mingle, shop and taste samples from various Western New York wineries.

“It’s our first annual, it’s something we have been talking about for a couple of years now,” said Ten Thousand Vines Winery owner Mike Ditonto, who organized the event along with Battin Eye Care Owner Joe Battin and Village Sweet Shoppe Owner Gayle Hardick through the Village Business Advisory Council.

“Wineries from all over Western New York are coming in to pour wine and meet with customers,” said Ditonto, who added the event is a chance for Hamburg businesses to show off their wares. The $10 ticket will allow attendees to receive discounts at participating village restaurants, as well as a shuttle bus to the wine tour venues for those who do not feel like walking.

In addition, Hamburg Wine About will showcase artisans and musicians from the Buffalo area.

“We reached out to Allentown and the Elmwood Village Society to help us bring in some musicians and artists,” said Battin, adding that the idea is to link the Northtowns and the Southtowns. “It is so important that the communities are integrated, and that we share our growth and development with everyone else.”

The idea for merging artists and businesses was partly modeled after Buffalo First’s indiesound festival, which places musicians in streets and shops throughout the Allentown business district.

There is a natural synergy between musicians and small businesses, said Sarah Bishop, executive director of Buffalo First. The non-profit takes a regional approach to bolstering economy in the Buffalo-Niagara area.

“A lot of our independent businesses have supported our local musicians,” said Bishop. She explained that live music helps to draw customers to the shops, while the musicians are provided with a venue to get their voices heard.

“Both of them know what it feels like to exist outside the corporate world,” she said.

Like many other village events, Ditonto said the idea behind Hamburg Wine About is to draw in out-of-town customers.

“I think a lot of people come to Hamburg and experience our restaurants or our nightlife...but they don’t always get into the retail stores,” said Ditonto.

Stops on the Hamburg Wine About will include: Battin Eye Care, Biehler’s Village Square Liquors, Bikram Yoga Hamburg, Fresh and Fluffy, Prima Oliva, Village Sweet Shoppe, What a Woman Wants, Ten Thousand Vines Winery, Main Street Ice Cream, Melanie’s Eats and Sweets, Monroe’s Place and Kitchen Creations of WNY.

Though Battin feels that Hamburg Wine About will prove successful, he knows this is just one event of many that the village has up its sleeve.

“This is not a one-shot deal. Part of our culture as a village is to have these events,” he said.

He added it is these initiatives that continue to draw in out of town crowds to experience the best of Hamburg.

“We want to make the village a destination,” he said.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/HamburgWineAbout.