Warsaw, Va. -- A special dinner with an important purpose drew 95 people together on March 4 at Belle Mount Winery. For the first time, the seven wineries on the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail met with tourism officials, local businesses including a major wine industry supplier, owners of bed and breakfasts, inns, local tourist attractions, a state delegate and representatives from the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office to begin figuring out how to work together to improve the economic climate for the wineries and the community.

In these challenging times, all businesses worry about their sales, cash flow, and how to meet payroll and pay bills. Businesses on the Northern Neck in Virginia are not immune from the economic threats facing the rest of the country. Arthur Roberts, president of Arton Bay Etching and Imprinting, which supplies glasses to the wine industry, had the idea of bringing groups together to generate new ways of improving the business environment for everyone involved.

"Wineries help their communities, and in turn, communities can help wineries," Roberts commented. "We wanted to bring together the local wineries to meet with lots of people from government, tourism and community businesses, and at the Belle Mount Winery dinner we succeeded in doing that."

Roberts joined forces with George Beckett, chairman of the Northern Neck Tourism Council, to gather the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail and as many members of the local business and government community as they could. Hilton Snowdon, who handles marketing for Arton, organized the wine reception and dinner.

The evening's main speaker was Patty Held, a nationally known winery consultant and marketing expert from Hermann, Mo. Held was instrumental in starting the Hermann Wine Trail in 2004, and she is currently its chairman. She detailed the many benefits to the community that have resulted from the wine trail: Increased tourism during otherwise slow winter months and greater awareness of the region as a unique place to visit. She stressed that the entire region-- bed and breakfasts, inns, restaurants, shops, museums and even gas stations--had all benefited from the programs and success of the wine trail.

Albert Pollard, a local state representative; Amy Ciarametaro from the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office in Richmond, Virginia; and George Beckett from the Northern Neck Tourism Council also addressed the group.

According to Beckett, the dinner served to revitalize the tourism board. The next step will be for the board to design a basic plan for community involvement and action, and then recruit people from the community to carry out that plan.