winery founded 1958 headquarters hammondsport new york products wine and merchandise website bullyhill.com coordinates 42 26 28.30 n 77 12 29.30 w 42.4411944 n 77.2081389 w 42.4411944 ; 77.2081389 bully hill vineyards is a vineyard and winery located in hammondsport new york united states in the finger lakes american viticultural area . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 the goat 2 facilities and distribution 3 sponsorships 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1920 the taylor wine company needed room to expand as well as consistent sources of electricity and water . the winery was moved to a location two miles outside of hammondsport and the original property where bully hill sits today was sold to a lloyd sprague . in 1958 greyton h. taylor and walter s. taylor bought back the property from sprague and established bully hill farms . greyton and walter began converting the native american grapes on the land to french american hybrid grapes pioneering those varieties in new york state . over the next 12 years walter and greyton slowly built a winery on location and in 1970 bully hill inc. was established . walter represented 2 the third generation of his family to be involved in grape growing and wine making a family endeavor since 1878 . bully hill was one of the first small estate wineries in the keuka lake area since prohibition . during prohibition the winery sold grape juice in small wooden barrels . a label was placed on the barrel giving explicit instructions on how the juice would turn into wine if precautions weren t taken . in 1982 they filed the trademark space shuttle rose . this was contested by nasa whose action was denied by the trademark trials and appeals board in 1987 . 3 the goat edit in may 1970 walter taylor was fired from the taylor wine company . he and greyton taylor founded bully hill that same year . when greyton passed in 1971 taylor inherited his shares of ownership in bully hill . walter founded the first wine museum in america and began to criticize other new york state wine makers for using out of state grapes in their products . this enraged other wine makers and rumors began to circulate that taylor had gone off the deep end . walter then went on a tour to defend his product and against the rumors that he had gone insane . he called it the tour of johnny grapeseed . 4 in july 1977 after a merger with coca cola co. the taylor wine co. sued taylor to stop him from using his last name . u.s. district court judge harold p. burke agreed with the complaint . his instructions were that bully hill was enjoined from using the word taylor or any colorable imitation thereof in connection with any labeling packaging materials advertising or promotional material for any of defendant s products . the taylor name was then blotted out wherever it appeared on bully hill products . 4 during the court battle sales at bully hill vineyards climbed from 650 000 in 1977 to more than 2 million in 1980 . visitors at bully hill vineyards increased 25 % after taylor went on a media campaign to spread word of his believed injustice . taylor s appeal was ruled that the injunction was too broad . the court said taylor could use his signature on a bully hill label or advertisement if he chooses but only with appropriate disclaimer that he is not connected with or a successor to the taylor wine co. however because of the attention taylor had received taylor wine company lawyers argued that taylor was violating the spirit of the injunction itself . judge burke on october 5 1979 made the injunction permanent . judge burke then ordered bully hill to adhere to a list of 11 stipulations detailing what taylor could say and how and when he could use his name . for example the judge said that the lettering and size of walter s signature could be no larger than one fourth the size of the lettering of the bully hill vineyards inc. trademark on the same label advertisement side surface or page . he also ordered that within 30 days of his decision bully hill had to deliver to taylor wine all prohibited labeling and advertising for destruction . 4 november 8 1979 taylor drove four miles from bully hill to taylor wine company to return the labels and other marketing products amid several spectators who were cheering him on . he threw a parade despite not having a permit and then threw a party at bully hill . taylor was upset i remembered when all those farmers demonstrated in washington they let loose a bunch of goats and all the guards were running around after them . so i got a goat and it saved my life . that s when i decided to laugh at the whole thing to laugh at life . 4 he then famously stated that they took my name and heritage but they didn t get my goat . until his death taylor would often say things like just call me walter s. blank or yes i m the owner of bully hill but i can t tell you where i came from . 4 many of his own drawings are still used as labels today . facilities and distribution edit growing from a small winery with a limited number of employees bully hill vineyards offers over 40 different selections of wine and now produces over 200 000 cases of wine each year . they are the second largest producer of wine in new york state . 5 bully hill features an on site restaurant wine shop two gift shops and the new york state wine museum of greyton h. taylor and walter s. taylor art gallery . 6 visitors are offered tours and wine tastings throughout the year weather permitting . bully hill wine is distributed in some 30 states . sponsorships edit as of june 29 2011 bully hill sponsors four professional sports teams . 7 bully hill is the official wine of the buffalo bills the buffalo sabres the boston bruins the elmira jackals bully hill also has an extensive history in nascar mainly involving sponsorship of cars and the actual race sponsors themselves at watkins glen international which is close to bully hill . most of its history is with nemco motorsports and driver ron fellows though it has been featured on racing machines since 1997 . 8 references edit 1 official site accessed april 26 2011 . 2 new york times obit april 24 2001 accessed april 26 2011 . wine maker takes on nasa with suit . the newburgh beacon evening news . june 7 1987 . retrieved 26 april 2011 . a b c d e lucien rhodes december 1 1981 . they took my name but they didn t get my goat . inc magazine . retrieved 9 may 2011 . 3 iloveny accessed april 26 2011 . 4 official site accessed 4 26 2011 . 5 official site accessed april 26 2011 . 6 bully hill sponsorship accessed april 26 2011 . external links edit bully hill web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bully hill vineyards & oldid 740412839 categories wineries in new yorkhammondsport new yorkvisitor attractions in steuben county new yorkmuseums in steuben county new yorkdrinks museums in the united stateshidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate 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