Expanded wine offerings and large humidor just two new additions

Published in the February 17 – March 1, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life

By Robert Airoldi

Photo by Marty Cheek Jeff Burrus and Roger Hay flank "Punch," the Morgan Hill Wine & Cigar Shop's mascot, in their new location.

Photo by Marty Cheek
Jeff Burrus and Roger Hay flank “Punch,” the Morgan Hill Wine & Cigar Shop’s mascot, in their new location.

When they were given 30 days notice to move, the Morgan Hill Wine and Cigar Shop ownership group knew they faced a difficult situation. But with the help of many of the 15 partners, they managed to find a new location and opened late last month to much fanfare from their fiercely loyal customers.

“We were able to find this place within a few weeks and from that point everyone involved from the landlord to the city to all regulatory agencies just bent over backward to make this happen,” said Roger Hay, chairman and CFO. Hay calls the partners a fraternity. “This group is very much a partnership that includes, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, scientists, you name it. We are able to call on a lot of people during the move.”

They were a bit concerned that they wouldn’t see the foot traffic they had downtown, but now they’re finding that 95 percent of their customers are coming back.

“These customers are very loyal,” Hay said. “The move hasn’t been a problem from that standpoint.”

The new location in Candy Park south of Dunne Avenue includes a separate wine shop with more than 1,500 bottles of local wines as well as some high-end wines from Napa and Paso Robles, said Jeff Burrus, president and CEO.

“The idea was to create a location where people could come in a buy bottle of wine without picking up the (smoke) aroma through their nose or on their clothes,” said Burrus.

They are looking to focus on local wines with 1,500 to 2,000 bottles and they’ve added some high-end wines from Napa and Paso Robles.
“We’re trying to eventually get to the point where we are the premiere wine shop in South County,” Burrus said.

The new shop, while roughly the same square footage as the downtown location, appears roomier once inside. The higher ceiling and large windows give the lounge an airy, comfortable feeling. The new shop also has two separate heating and air conditioning units and a larger, more robust air purification system compared to the downtown location.

But perhaps the biggest difference, aside from the separate wine room, is the larger humidor that has almost tripled in size to 400 square feet and houses more than 2,500 cigars. It is believed to be the largest in Northern California.

“It allows us to have almost all the mainline cigars the industry has to offer right here,” Burrus said.

Morgan Hill Wine and Cigar Shop started in its previous incarnation back in 2009 when the then owner decided to sell the downtown shop.
“We were a small group of customers and didn’t want to see the business go away, so we formed a company, a partnership,” Hay said. “We put some money in, bought inventory and opened within three months and now we’re on our 7th year.”

That partnership numbers 15, with six owning about 85 percent of the business. Seven others are employees as well.

“Our employees have a vested interest,” Burrus said. “All of them have a first job and this is their second job. They love to come down here and work and interact with the customers.”

The lounge offers weekly Wednesday events, each devoted to a specific area: The first Wednesday is wines, the second pipes, the third cigars and the fourth beer. They also hold an Academy Award party, Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four parties and sports are always on the TVs, Burrus said.

“We’re also trying to focus on events like Passport Weekend as well as Mushroom Mardi Gras, the Taste of Morgan Hill and any other events taking place in Morgan Hill,” he added.

A large portion of what they’re trying to do is enhance the wine experience.

“We wanted to bring the wines out of the back and into the front of the shop,” Burrus said. “We want to support local wines. If we are successful here we can expand the wine shop. That’s the eventual goal. Our best growth will be in wines.”

Greg Petersen, owner of Creekview and a partner in the business, is the man in charge of the wine shop.

“What makes us unique is there are not too many places in California where you can smoke a premium cigar and enjoy an adult beverage,” Hay said. “ In all of Northern California there are just five places you can purchase alcohol and smoke a cigar.”

Both said they’re happy their customers are back.

“The irony is the fact we are going to see all that construction downtown for several years,” Hay said. “It’s gonna be pretty messy and that would have affected our business. Here we’ve moved and it allowed us to hit the ground running – and that’s what we did.”

Morgan Hill Wine & Cigar Shop

Where: 16375 Monterey Road
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Contact: (408) 776-7667 or visit www.morganhillcigar.com