How an attorney turned their dream of owning a winery into a thriving, multi-venture reality

In this client spotlight, we speak to Amy LaBelle, founder of LaBelle Winery and all-round inspirational human. With tales of how she gradually learned the art of winemaking on the side of her “day job” as an attorney, to then end up owning a thriving, multi-location winery business – this is a true lesson in dream pursuit. And there’s no denying that the result of said dream – LaBelle Winery – is more than a little bit impressive. 

Based in Amherst, New Hampshire, its flagship location sprawls no less than 20,000 square feet. The winery, which also has a second location in Derry, NH, is the producer of an array of delicious, award-winning wines. But that’s not all – far from it in fact. The LaBelle Winery business also encompasses two award-winning restaurants, a 9-hole golf course (plus 18-hole mini golf course)... and an impressive weddings and events offering. Then there’s its gorgeous artisan marketplace. And (because why not?) a highly successful, annual Christmas lights display, aptly named LaBelle Lights. Not forgetting a whole host of public events, from wine and cheese pairing classes to murder mystery dinner parties. 

What’s perhaps most impressive is LaBelle Winery’s commitment to giving back. The business has helped over 2,000 charities since opening its doors in 2010.

Read on for our inspirational chat with Amy. There’s so much to learn here 🍷💫.

Key takeaways

💰Don’t give up when it comes to securing financing – LaBelle Winery experienced quite a few rejections before finding a bank to support their plan.

🫶Cultivating a team of dedicated professionals who truly understand your vision and goals can help you turn your dream into a reality.

🎟️Finding the perfect ticketing partner is about having your main problem areas solved – for example, via a free check-in app that means people don't need to hang around in the cold when entering your event. It’s also important to work with a platform that aligns with your own values and ethics. 

“We love that Ticket Tailor is a purpose-led business that gives back to the community, as it aligns with our values, and the way we do things here.”

Amy, you’ve built a truly impressive business – how did it all begin?

This special place began as a dream of mine in 2001 – a dream that happened as I visited a small winery in Nova Scotia, Canada. The moment I walked into that winery, I had a “lightning bolt” moment, and I knew that I was meant to make wine. 

So, I began learning the art of winemaking first at home in my small Boston apartment, and then at UC Davis, California in their distance learning program, and I was hooked. I continued to work on a business plan and building knowledge around winemaking, all the while keeping my “day job” as an attorney at Fidelity Investments, as I saved my pennies and planned for the future LaBelle Winery.

How did things progress from those early days onwards?

In 2005, I launched a small commercial production at the gorgeous Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, NH where I fermented small batches of apple wines for two years. By then I had met and married my dear husband, Cesar Arboleda, and we moved the winery to a barn behind our residence in Amherst, NH. It was here that we grew production to 18,000 gallons. 

In 2010, with 200 wholesale accounts, we had no more room for expansion. So we decided to take a big leap, and embarked on the journey to build what is now our 20,000 square foot, state of the art, LaBelle Winery, bistro restaurant and event center. In 2021, I opened a second Winery in Derry, NH which features a restaurant, a wedding and event center, a market place, 9-hole golf course, and 18-hole mini golf course. The Derry property also hosts our annual LaBelle Lights outdoor holiday light show. 

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered along the way?

Financing a 5.3 million dollar project in hospitality and winemaking — an industry that is largely untested in New Hampshire and New England — was a difficult process. When the first four banks rejected us, we did not give up and Enterprise Bank in Lowell, MA finally supported our plan. 

Finding the right team of employees was also difficult – we wanted to cultivate a team of dedicated professionals who really got our mission and vision. In addition, winemaking in New England can be a bit lonely in that there isn’t a thriving community of winemakers with whom to gain knowledge or experience. We’re largely self-taught, and have learned by trial and error.

Clearly, the hard work paid off. Tell our readers about LaBelle Winery’s amazing offerings today…

We specialize in creating exciting and unique wines from cold-hardy grapes — grapes that may not be well known but offer incredibly interesting opportunities to taste something new! Hosting over 300 events per year, LaBelle Winery also specializes in executing events with perfection and excellence, offering the best food and service in New Hampshire. 

We are set apart by “The LaBelle Experience”. That is, we invite guests to come to LaBelle and have an experience that provides a few hours of education, artisan culinary products, and the opportunity to relax. LaBelle Winery is an excellent day trip from the Boston area — offering wine tastings, shopping, an artisan market, a stroll through the vineyard, wine cellar and wine production tours, golf and mini-golf, educational classes, and two award-winning restaurants.

Onto ticketing – what led you to Ticket Tailor?

Last year our website was overburdened with high volumes of traffic, so we asked ourselves 'how do we find a ticketing platform that can handle a multi-day event like our annual LaBelle Lights event?'...

We got in touch with the Ticket Tailor team and voiced our 10 concerns… They took us through each step to get the solutions we needed, and the rest is history.

Ticket Tailor has honestly saved our lives. We looked at lots of other ticketing platforms but chose Ticket Tailor as it could manage EVERYTHING we wanted it to do. And it was SO affordable.

What are some of the problems Ticket Tailor’s helped solve?

The main problem we wanted to rectify was to remove the burden of having 60,000 people trying to access our website at once.

As LaBelle Lights is a multi-day event, we needed a platform that could not only support this high volume of traffic, but also allow the constraints with our hourly time slots across multiple dates.

Another one of our concerns was understanding the check-in app and how we could rent mobile scanners, as we had problems in the past with another provider. It's freezing cold this time of year and people want to keep moving as much as possible, so this was a problem that had to be solved. It’s super reassuring that the Ticket Tailor check-in app is not only free, but it works offline and across multiple devices. It’s been working like an absolute dream.

Are there any other reasons that you love working with Ticket Tailor?

We love that Ticket Tailor is a purpose-led business that gives back to the community, as it aligns with our values, and the way we do things here.

Our ultimate vision for LaBelle has always been to give back to the community in ways that are fulfilling, impactful and meaningful, and to grow the business year on year so we can continue to contribute more.

A feature of Ticket Tailor's that we love is the charitable donation option we can add to our tickets.

We’re proud to have collaborated with over 2,000 charities since we opened our doors in 2010. And LaBelle Lights specifically supports both Toys for Tots and 'End 68 Hours Of Hunger'. Many of these donations are physical gifts on the night, but Ticket Tailor’s donation feature allows us to take cash donations and give even more to these crucial causes. 

Find out how you can accept donations on Ticket Tailor >

Do you have any advice for business owners looking to incorporate events into their offering?

Success can happen if you follow your passion and are willing to take some risks. LaBelle Winery leads by example with our commitment to excellence and focus on embracing and supporting the community.

Finally, what does the future hold for LaBelle Winery? 

We continually focus on making LaBelle Winery an artisan culinary destination with unmatched hospitality. We plan to expand even further in the near future – stay tuned!

A big thanks to Amy for chatting with us and sharing so many awesome insights with our readers! Find out more about LaBelle Winery >

Looking for a ticketing partner that matches your values and helps you solve all those annoying ticketing teething pains? Find out more about working with Ticket Tailor >