Over a Barrel: The Rise and Fall of New York's Taylor Wine Company

by Thomas Pellechia

In 1880, Walter Stephen Taylor, a cooper s son, started a commercial grape juice company in New York s Finger Lakes region. Two years later, wine production was added, and by the 1920s, the Taylor Wine Company was firmly established. Walter Taylor s three sons carefully guided the company through Prohibition and beyond, making it the most important winery in the Northeast and profoundly affecting the people and community of Hammondsport, where the company was headquartered.
In the 1960s, the Taylor family took the company public. Ranked sixth in domestic wine production and ripe for corporate takeover, the company was sold to Coca-Cola in 1977. Three more changes of corporate ownership followed until, in 1995, this once-dynamic and important wine producer was obliterated, tearing apart the local economy and changing a way of life that had lasted for nearly a century.
Drawing on archival research as well as interviews with many of the principal players, Thomas Pellechia skillfully traces the economic dynamism of the Finger Lakes wine region, the passion and ingenuity of the Taylor family, and the shortsighted corporate takeover scenario that took down a once-proud American family company. In addition to providing important lessons for business innovators, "Over a Barrel>/i> is a cautionary tale for a wine region that is repeating its formative history."

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 11, 2015

About the author

Indepenedent magazine feature writer, newspaper columnist, online columnist, and book author.

Reviews

[victor harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of regional interest for those in upstate New York. A history and analysis of how the Taylor family built a powerhouse in the wine industry on Keuka Lake but later saw their empire disintegrate after corporate takeover; much to the detriment of local workers and growers. Very plodding reading which gives a very technical commentary on the winemaking process from vine to vat, and includes a clutter of actors and companies in the wine business that make it read like a textbook instead of a narrative. I grew up in the area in question so recognized some of the people in question and had some interest in the topic, so the 3 rating is probably a little generous.

[Chelsea Flint · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book if you're interested in the history of the Finger Lakes wine industry! Although focused mainly on Taylor there are a lot of familiar names if you know about the region as it is today.