>> business news from the capital region. this is "washington business report" withbc 7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks for bringing in the new year with us today. is keeping trackck of your money in the washington region high on your list of priorities? you are in luck.. we have the top list of stories from our friends at the " washington business journal." we will tell y some of t the highlights of who is on the business list. in our small business spotlight, a siness but the national chains and bringing hard to find entertainment to the washington area. for yone still recoverering new

year's eve, a hair off the dog from the business perspective. our region is home to a rapidly growing wine making industry. virginia accounts for 165 vinerds, with 67 in northen virgininia. our guest tododay owns andd operates ferman's sellers -- llars and a number of other wineries. but there are challenges in the regi. how es hee succeed where oers haveve failed? thanks for joining us on "washington business report." >> glad to be here. >> there are numerous obstacle that would m make someone wise run and scream from wine making. the weather is hoot in the summer and cold in winter, not good for one. the list could go on and on. how do you succeed? >> we have to take every problem for what it is and isolate it. our weather has been

problematic, but ovethe last 10 years -- i hate to see the benefit of global warming but our summers are earlierreier. our winters are less s harsh. >> if you have lemons, make lemonade, or in your case, make wine. you were b born in great britain. yoyou have lived at different times in your life in california and various other places. u were in the air force at one point. u got intthe restaurant business here. what led you to one? >> you have to be a jack of all trades and juge, and i love the wind. growing up, learning how to make wine and make food is a very mmon thing making food and understanding how they are made is the same as making wine. it is very chahallenging, and the restaurant industry y is very repetitive day today. the wine industry works on an annual cyclical cycle.

someone with add like myselwho ge bored pretty quicickly, working in an industry like this is much more challenging. >> you sayou make the samame chicken pretty much all together in a business,s, but in thwine business, , you grow one group of grapes and bottle one line, so you have to get it right. >> the margigin for error is very slim, d there is 100 different challelenges, and evevery decisioion accounts. >> think of the business as glamorous. itas become fairly glamorous.s. there are some well-known names in the washington area. tell us who some of our growersrs e. >> dave matthews had a winery in virginia for some time. >> the musician. >>e has done well in the news, donald trump and his son tookver a winery in virginia. we had some other people with notoriety. aol founder steve gates i

coming in as a playerow in virginia. the solahis hahave had a lot of fun with their notoriety of fashion. >> they manage to blow it b but still had some fun. you haveve a lot of distinctions on n your r resume. you were the first wineryry to use the oxo barrel system, which is considered the gold standard. one that really ststruck mee -- - you we the first mobile line boler,o i had to do my homework and look it up. i discover that m mobile wide bottliling is exacy what it sounds like. expepensive equipmenon mobile homes, and you go door-to-door to different vineyarards and help them bottle with the expensive equipment. >> exact. the benefit to the winery is you get to bottle quickly with very high hygienic, high quality standards, equipment you would not normally bebe able to afford. in a day, the e equipment can

bottle 15,00000 bottles ofof wine fairly quickly. i started this company witith some people 20 yearsgo, and driving up and down the coast, , learn the secrets o of wemakg, and that was helpful in my career. >> you said other trick k to the trade is virginia peoplele are friendly, so you all have joined forces so you act as a cooperative in somee wayin buying corks, for example. i really noted tha on the barrel you are paying less than californiaa pays for a really good barrel because you buy cooperative. tell me about that. >> i love ththe corporation in virginia for several reasons. we are able to work directly with european prododucers, and it does not need to be shippeded to califoia. of all the wine sold in viinia onlone out of 20 is virginia wine. we do findndurselves working against the m marketplace.

ifif we can learn together as a wine industrtry how w to makake things betterthen we all l benefit from that. >> igre my ll phone. probably someone tried to call to get a botottle ofof wine out of you. yoyou have big news about china buying into the virginia wine business. >> i do. we will sign papers today that will allow for the first time virginia winerery to be sold to a foreign nationanal. a a large one company has purchased into the partnership with me. they are a majority owner and partnership. the e idea of king the brarand of the wine to very high levels in china for national distribution, pricice, quality. th are going to invest a lot into the virginia wine industry.y. i amery excited aboutt it. >> one of our r regulars is always warning china -- warning aboutut chchina buying up to much of the u.s.. >> i think it is a great deal. china is bringing in moneney to help the business continue to

grow. they are going to invest in our product here we will continue hire local people who need work. we will make a good product sellt at arofito china and they w will invest a lot of money into the winery as a destinatn place. >> an imessive business mododel for industry that i n not an eaeasy place to make money.. i i want our visitors to t that -- ouour viewers know this was not anasy interew foror you to do. yourur mother dieded unexpectedldly in aa car crash lasteek. your father still in the hoital. u coidered cancelling the interview but you psevere. your mother would be very pud. >> thank you. she is loved by many. >> thank you. make some popcorn. our small

>> a trip to the movie theater is a new year's traditition for many of us, and this week's spotlight on small buness i on a d.c.-owned and o operated thear that is all about offering a distinct alternative to the chain. our guest is co-owner of the cinema. he bought an abandoned movie thear that opened in the fall 2010 at theorner of 23rd and m street. jo, thananks foror joining us. i tnk a lot of people willll rememberer the circle cinemathat were the. they were known r bringing unique movies tto th area, but so many of those theaters are

gone. what made you think you could succeed where so many failed? >> mbusiness partner jamie shore, and i felt strongly that the pendulum had swung so far toward consolidation in the industry, and there were so many 11 locations that closed and that there was actually a whole line in the market for a small, nimble, truly independent theater. the reason all the theaters in washington closed, all the cinemas' closed that we love when i was g growing up, our macro ecomic issues. it has n nothing to do wi washingtonians not g going to the movies. this is a great market for moviegoers especially for the kindf films that we show. >> that is what i was going to say -- it is more of a refined pate in the washinon area, it seems there is a need for that but there i is also the need for being a jack of all trades to save money.

it is worth noting that you have added along to the cinema experience, and higher level of food and beverage at ur cinema. tell viewers what they can expect. >>he folks he at tbd.com voted us bt popcorn in washington, which we are very proud of and talk about every chance we can get. we also have a full liquor license, and we have a a comny in northern virginia that makes grgreat sandwiches, baklava cookies,s, brownies fors. >> a little more refinedor the slushy as theyey served in theaters. youu started having somome background in the restaurant business and the film business. tell me about that. >> i had eight years' experience as a a restaurant and bar owner in washington. i move to new york and spent several yeyears working in film distribution and production. my business partnehas beea

publicist for independent films and documentaries for 12 years. betwn the t of us we had a lot of experience in bringining lms to the marketplace. you are notot afraid of getting your hands dirty. whenhe washington paper profile view, they not that they were on a day when you were cleaning the patio and getting thinings rdy. what are some of the cover things about being a small business owner in n this environment? >> even tugh washington has generally outrformed the rest of the country during the recession, people are still a little more reluctant to spepend discretionarary dollars. >> i think especially at thee concession standnd, where so many theaters depend on their revenue streamam. >> yes but there is some ingrained consumer behavior about being in a movie theater and having popcorn. >> i admit to having that ingrained behavior. >> there's the concern that people are a little tighthter with their discretionanary dollars. the other thing is there are so

many different opportunities to consume media these days. >> this theater, live performances. there are so many different options.s. > even when i it comes to recorded media you can b a cell phone now that can show "lawrence of arabia." to someone my age, why someone wouldo that, i i do not know. >> your point is you have to stand out and make i different. >> right. we offer an experience and an environment. that is where we as a small business can xl. >> thankfor joining us on "washington business report."

>> welcome back. we are pleased t to have with us to discuss the top busess stories of 2011 two of the top editors from the "washington business journal,"," a publicaon that is a st read for us and anyone that was to understand our country's business environment. "editor of special sections" is here with us. did n not kw that was your tie. i want that title. t's talk about everything that is going on. i have to mention one o of your headlines on friday that really caught my eye. eliot spitzer and his fatheher buying the building 1 bethesda center and you tell me this i

the third building he has bought in the area. >> he has had hisye on the area for a while. >> i i did not know w what kind of joke i was going to make. i had aa joke aboutent anand alll those kinds of things. besides the storories that caught my attention from youheadlines this week, there were the stories that got everyone's attention. you throw it out to the readers and let th choose their most important stories of the year, and then you had the editor's pick. we only had time for 3 but the were ptty closely inine. let's start with the most important story of the year from the vantage point of the editors and aders, and that t was the failure of the supcommittee in congress but the ability to averat least a government shutdown. >> it was on-again, off-again. for us, while the political story, it is really a business

story. as the goverernment, as goes our bubusiness around here. we aree not going to shut downn the uncertainty, which is never good f business. >> good news that th did not shutown the government, but bad news that it means automatic trigger cuts, a lot of defense spending in our area. >> f however many years -- i mean, this region has b been buffered by the federal contracting industry. it has been a cushion for us through the recession. it is pretty much what kept us going, why we did not request as much as any other metro area in the country. now, to have our golden egg -- it is going to really changehe way federal contractors doo busine. they will not know who to hire, whether they wanant to expand.d. >> with the electon coming up, the main topic is jo. a local economists here predicted that if those cuts go

through, nearly 200,000 jobs are going to go away in our gion alone. that is a big number. >> and discussing it here wi you. i like the fact that there was a split decision for number tw reader's trick -- pick the groundbreaking at city center, ich is a big deal, but the editor's pick livingsocial. >> livingsocial is a homegrown story that has been in national headlis that wil be affecting a lot of jobs arnd here. they have a staff of 4000 people now. many millions of dollars in venture capital and funding. i've been watctchingnd wting to see what happens. this could be the nextt ipo. >> at a time whehen it is not a great time to be doing an ipo. it is true, but they reflect a little bit of this r return of the texting -- tech scene.

it o overtook a lot of the conversation a around here. it is a really high-profile name, hahard to miss. they raise hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. frobig names like amazon >> in fact, the ceo talked about trying to adopt the amazon model. it is hard to say where it is going to go. >> fried a headline, amazonn bringing jobs to virginia andnd bringing money -- friday deadline.. let's talk about the reader's choiceand hotly anticiped project. you had a wonderful quotation from jack evans at the groundbreaking. >> we did. the developers fifirst signed on to this in 2003. he said he remembered the first meeting on this, and they met with george washington and pale fawn. it goes to show h long in the making it was. >> it managed to get back on track.

the recession was not a good time for groundbreaking and development in theashington area. does the sw signs of life for the entire area for 201 >> the fact that it is progressing shows some sign of life, and it is also one of the things thatt eryone knows.s. how ny times havave we driven arouound that big giant hole with everyone waiting to see what will happen? >> the thihird story as voted by bo the editors and readers is the new headquarters which ended up having a g game fofor maryland and virginia. they movedeadquarters from california to northern virginia but they also guaranteed more moneney for maryland when maryland got worried they would lose too virginia. >> this is a story that one of our reporters had been tracking for months, known as project x in circles. literally,y, it was a mystery novel waiting to happppen. 30000 square f feet were being sought out by a big company, and they could not fure out who it was, so when it came to light

that it wawas going to be any economic impact itit would have, it was a big happen -- it was a big event. >> with the book of lists come back, we will have editors in the new year to discuss more, but i h have to get to this, one of my favorite books of the year. i always like the list of fastest-growing companies, and it wasnteresting to note that if youanted to be aast growing compan in this decade tenology was a good bet. eight the number of the fastest- growing companies were chnology, but i have to note, no. 19, five guys, still going strong. >> have to feed all those technologists someho > real estate technology, hamburgers. you can never stop the hamburgers. when it comes to public traded companies,here have we sn the biggest t this year? >> a lot of government contraracting. it is always, again our bread

and butter for the region, said they will have a high spot. >> i will be interesting to see what happens. even the top public company, lockheed martin, had some layoffs. we will see at happens to these major nes with any federal cuts that areriggered through all of t shutdown talk. but all in all, a goodod year in terms of acquiuiring names, so there was some good news in the midst of all t bad economic news thisear. i think one of thee nicest list is the companies that are the most philanthropic but just evy kind of list you can imagine. we will pick it up more later in the new year. >> we do have acceleration onon january 26 whichll the ceo's from eryone on ththe list are invited. >> truly one the best business events of the year. some uniquee itemsms that you will see -- ladidies, wewe will talk about that more as well. thank you both for joining us, from the bedroom you could see the fire and that work me right up. and it was absolutely terrifying. we got out of there as quickly as

we could. i'm watching the house burn up and i'm sitting there saying, there goes everything. these days you don't have to loseour house in a fire to know what it's like to be left on the edge in the cold. the shelter gave us a place to stay. and citizens energy helped the shelter with heat. i'm excited to finally have a place of my own. citizens energy is helping us with the oil. citizens energy was created to help the forgotten ones keep warm. we asked the big oil companies and oil producucing nations to help. only citgo and the people of venezuela said yes. and this year, in spite of soaring fuel prices, congress cut homeeating assistance nearly in half. while people need help more than ever. for the last seven years, citgo has helpedamilies and homeless shelters in good times and in bad. thanks joe and thanks citgo. so if you need help staying warm this winter give me a call because no one should be left out in the cold.

>> new year's day is not over yet, so maybe our number of the week wilhelp strengthen your resolve. 88 is the percent chance that a new year's resolution will end in failure but the "wall street journal" reports that e more we practice mental discipline, the momore likely we are to succeed. good luck with your resolutions. we will be bac next week and hope we are on your list of things to watch in the new year.