‘Never give up’

Strength and persistence help LaBelle Winery endure

BY AMANDA ANDREWS

EVEN THOUGH AMHERST, DERRY AND PORTSMOUTH are on different points of New Hampshire’s map, there’s one thing that ties them all together: LaBelle Winery.

IIn 2010, owner Amy LaBelle and her husband Cesar Arboleda opened their flagship location in Amherst, and quickly grew the hospitality business to two other locations, offering event spaces, wine tastings and gift shops on top of producing award-winning wines grown and packaged locally in the Granite State.

The LaBelle Winery team with owners Amy LaBelle and Cesar Arboleda (at right) behind the scenes at their wine production facility. (Photos by Allegra Boverman)

The growth of the business over the next several years far exceeded the duo’s original aspirations, but then came 2020. All nonessential businesses were forced to shut their doors for fear of spreading the Covid-19 virus, including LaBelle Winery’s three locations.

Amy LaBelle’s first thought, she said, “was for my team. We were ordered shut. I had 102 employees, and I immediately had to lay off 90 of them. That was a very bad day for me and for them,” she recalls. “My team is like my family — they work so hard to grow the brand and do the right thing to provide the best hospitality experience in New England at all of our properties.”

Another major concern was cash to keep the business flowing. “We were terrified that we would not only lose everything we built over the last decade, but that we would lose our house,” says LaBelle.

Her first course of action was to establish company-wide communication. Through text messages and emails, LaBelle kept her entire staff updated, including those laid off, to share information about what exactly she and Arboleda were doing to save the business.

Among their efforts was to establish an employee emergency fund raffle, giving customers a chance to buy raffle tickets for prizes. Money raised helped pay employees’ rent, groceries or anything else they needed while stuck at home.

The real saving grace for the company came within five days of shutting down — La- Belle Winery developed a family meal program that included an entire dinner of salad, soup, bread, the main course and dessert.

Amy and her husband, Cesar, help out in the vineyard. (Courtesy photo)

“It’s not a business we’ve ever run before. We didn’t know how to do takeout like that. We’re a fine dining restaurant,” LaBelle said. “The real blessing of Covid was that we figured out how much support we have in the community. People were coming out in droves to buy those family meals.”

At the time, LaBelle only had 12 members on staff, and most didn’t work in food service.

“We had our HR person packing lunch; the vineyard workers were packing lunches. It was all hands on deck in an assembly line. Pictures of that time make me happy and sad, because it’s amazing to see what my team can accomplish.”

A FAMILY AFFAIR

LaBelle and her husband have built a strong business that relies on its team to produce the best possible experience for all customers.

“Our company culture is family. It’s strong, and it’s never wavered during this entire time.

Having people at work you don’t want to let down, (that) you still want to give your best to, I think that’s huge,” LaBelle says.

To her, “it’s important to not just run a successful company; it’s important to me to run a company of people that I love to see. When I walk into my senior leadership team meetings every week, I am genuinely happy to see these people. It feels like planning with friends and family.”

Things started to look up for the LaBelle team in 2021 with the opening of the La- Belle Market on Route 111 in Derry. Guests to the market can pick up some wine, healthy food to go, freshly baked pastries, coffee, grocery items like milk and eggs, and more.

The team of LaBelle Winery attends the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Derry location. (Courtesy photo)

Also at the Derry location is Americus Restaurant, serving farm-to-table cuisine with an international flair, as well as The Links at LaBelle golf course, mini-golf and an art gallery.

“I renovated the Derry Market to be a Parisian-style patisserie. But the restaurant in Derry is spectacular. That place is just beautiful, and I’m so proud of it,” says La- Belle. “I saw such potential (in Derry), and I knew I could transform it into a LaBelle property that made sense for the brand. There’s a new sheriff in town, and she plants grapes.”

On top of the new restaurant and market, LaBelle is building another production facility in Derry that will focus on sparkling wine and aging some of their reds. “We’re running out of room in Amherst, so we’re building this beautiful barn. It’ll be ready in May for guests to start visiting.”

Fulcrum Associates, the Amherst-based construction company that built the La- Belle Winery Amherst location, worked on renovations for the Derry Market and

Americus restaurant, and they’re on board to help LaBelle with the barn. Peter Niemitz of the Niemitz Design Group in Boston, helped bring LaBelle’s architectural vision to life for both properties.

‘NEVER GIVE UP’

While weddings are back in full force at LaBelle Winery, corporate events are taking a bit longer to return to normal numbers. The winery is also starting to get more involved again with nonprofit events.

LaBelle also runs her own nonprofit foundation, Empowering Angels, that supports young people looking to learn more entrepreneurial skills.

She continued, “It was one of the greatest moments of my life — thinking these girls are now empowered who can think along the lines of a business owner, and even if they can’t go to college, maybe it’s not in their future, even if they don’t have that opportunity, they can still open a business.”

“I was trying to break the stigma that to own a business you have to be rich. I wasn’t. I kept my day job for 12 years while I built the winery slowly, little by little, at night and on the weekends, until I got it to a place where I could make that full-time leap.”

The LaBelle family motto is: “never give up,” which both Labelle and Arboleda bring into their business practices.

“Things got a little dicey the past couple of years. There were definitely some pretty dark moments, but we just kept going. You don’t even have to keep going in giant leaps and bounds — you just have to move that one step forward. We never, ever, ever give up,” she says.

Amy and Cesar at the newest LaBelle Winery location in Derry on Route 111. (Photo by Allegra Boverman)