When the owners of The Towne Winer, Barry Browne and Liz Woolford, first met in 1994, Woolford described it as love at first sight and just like good wine their partnership has improved with age.
“We’re Wilma and Fred,” joked Woolford.
“Ya, meet the Flintstones,” said Browne.
Their sense of humour, tenacity and passion for winemaking are all part of The Towne Winer’s charm and success.
Their union seems a matter of circuitous fate given the thousands of miles that separated them at birth.
Browne grew up in the Ottawa Valley and Woolford grew up in Wiltshire and Devon in South West, England. She moved to Ottawa in 1978 to pursue a career in clothing and jewelry retail and worked, for a while, as a marketer in Toronto for Tilley Endurable.
It wasn’t until after she came to Guelph in the early 90s that she and Browne would meet.
Browne was an electrician by trade and moved to Guelph in 1986.
Four years after they got together they welcomed the birth of their daughter Montana Woolford-Browne.
“She works for the Downtown Guelph Business Association,” said Browne. “She’s in public relations there.”
Browne’s interest in winemaking began in 1972 and over the years his knowledge and passion for viniculture grew earning him the nickname Winer. It was only a matter of time before he would plunge into his hobby full time and in 2003 Browne and Woolford opened The Towne Winer
“We vint wine and we craft beer and premium ciders,” said Browne. “People who come here enjoy wine. That is 95 per cent of our business and five per cent is beer and premium ciders”
They also sell water and assorted paraphernalia that goes with the viniculture experience such as stemware, corkscrews and decanters.
Wine making is one of the oldest cultural practices dating back before recorded history but in Canada it is a competitive and highly regulated market.
“It is very strict,” said Browne. “I think there are only seven provinces that allow you to make your own wine. You can’t do any wine tasting on the premises. It’s illegal and it really hurts us.”
Winemaking remains popular for special events such as weddings but not as much for the hobbyist filling their cellar.
“There is a small percentage but very small and you usually find that their parents did it,” said Woolford. “We need to focus more on social media somehow.”
However, online marketing has been a double-edged sword.
“Online business does hurt us, absolutely,” said Browne. “We don’t have the market.
The whole industry has lost the millennials and we can’t capture them. We need to revitalize our customer base and attrition is really high in this business.”
They have also lost a significant amount of drive-by business due to traffic calming changes in the residential area on Downey Road.
These are the challenges they face going forward but there is a sense that they will get through it together.
“Wine is kind of a long journey,” said Brown. “It’s another ring in the tree of life.”
