Find Finger Lakes wines, ambience at new liquor store

Business partners Kit Bauer and Billy Gooshaw opened the new store, equipped with a tasting bar, in Southport Plaza on May 3.

"Two years ago, before Thanksgiving Day, Billy said to me that we need a liquor store in that plaza," Kit says. She did demographics of the area and took courses at Corning Community College to prepare for operating a successful new business.

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette Business partners Billy Gooshaw and Kit Bauer celebrate the grand opening of their store Lighthouse Liquors and Wine of Southport on June 4

Each time they went into another liquor store, they assessed what they liked and disliked. As they visited numerous stores, Kit and Billy began to formulate what they wanted to include in their yet-to-be-named business venture.

One day, Billy got a call from Kit -- she asked what he thought about "lighthouse" for the business' name.

"We love Cape Cod, the natural ambience and many lighthouses on the Cape," Kit says.

"Southport," "liquors" and "wine" were added to give the business name a sense of location and purpose.

What about the wines? "We have been open five weeks and seen solid growth each week," Billy says. They take suggestions from customers and add new wines little by little to their selection. Kit works with the distributors and places a few bottles of each new wine on the shelf to see how it moves. Repeat sales generate more orders, and the individual wines can earn a permanent spot on the shelves.

There are wines from around the world as well as a section devoted solely to varieties from the Finger Lakes. Many sweeter wines, such as Hazlitt's Red Cat, Fulkerson's Red Zeppelin and Knapp's Kat Knapp are well represented at the store. The store also offers more than 30 of the wines produced by Bully Hill Vineyards.

The couple is slowly adding more expensive, drier wines as they expand their Finger Lakes inventory. They already offer several cabernet franc, merlot and cabernet sauvignon wines produced in the region. They even have Syrah produced by Dave Whiting of Red Newt Cellars in Hector. Those grapes come from neighbor Jim Hazlitt's vineyards located just down the road from the winery.

Kit and Billy have provided wine samples at their tasting bar on Fridays and Saturdays since they opened. According to Kit, Finger Lakes wines are represented on at least one evening each weekend.

Sometimes an area winery will come and pour their selections. At other times, Kit makes sure that some local wines are included in the evening's selection.

"One of the main reasons we did the tasting bar is to help educate people about wine," Kit says.

Light music, nothing challenging, is provided. The atmosphere is designed to be relaxing and encourage people to browse.

"Fridays, sometimes it turns into a little party out here," Billy says. As for helping get the new business off the ground, Kit can't thank her parents enough.

"My parents have been unbelievably helpful. My father built the one-twenty-fifth scale top of a lighthouse (that greets customers as they enter the store) and Mom comes in on Saturdays (to help out)," Kit says.

One thing is for sure. The business name helps keep their dream of living along the water in the forefront of their minds. They may not live by the ocean, but "Someday we will own some waterfront property," Kit says.

Even after they achieve that goal, you may still be able to put into port at Lighthouse Liquors and Wines of Southport and sample some Finger Lakes wines.

Note: Tastings are from 4 to 7 p.m. Fridays and usually a little earlier on Saturdays. They will be offering cooking with wine every other week. E-mail lighthouse-liquors@stny.rr.com for more information.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears each Thursday on the Twin Tiers Life Food Page. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: jrichards@stargazette.com