"I'm certainly humbled by the competition we've had this year here," said owner Philip J. Randazzo after the announcement was made at the corporation's annual membership lunch meeting.

"We all share one great attribute," he said of the five businesses nominated for the award. "We were all smart enough or not-so-smart enough to start a business in the worse economic climate since the Great Depression."

The winery, which opened in July 2009, won more than 40 medals for its wine in its first year of business.

Mr. Randazzo runs the winery with his wife, Mary S., and daughter, Kristina.

"This is a retirement business for us, so we did it to be excellent," he said. "Our mission and outlook has been promoting grape-growing, which really started a brand-new industry."

The local community, local and state public officials and county agricultural agencies all have played a role in the fast growth of the industry.

"We have 50 growers and four, soon to be six, wineries," Mr. Randazzo said. "We're supported by all the other businesses."

Other nominees included:

■ Carthage Family Chiropractic Care, owned by Kelli Jo Thesier.

■ Instant Imprints, Carthage, owned by Christian M. Lawler.

■ North Country Farms LLC, Watertown, run by Kevin L. Richardson.

■ North Croghan Outpost, Natural Bridge, run by Teri L. Ellis.

The winner received a $1,000 prize.

"We had entrepreneurs from every part of the county," JCJDC CEO Donald C. Alexander said. "They represent some very great success stories we'll see materialize over the coming years."

The corporation also gave Business of Excellence Awards to two businesses that "have proven a commitment to Jefferson County and its economic health."

LaClair Family Dental has three dentists, led by Dr. Scott L. LaClair, and 17 support staff at two offices, 775 Graves St., Clayton, and 111 S. Mechanic St., Carthage.

"He's put the time and interest in our community," said Manager Della Ramsdell. "I wanted him to be here to get the recognition he deserves."

Conley's Rental Management, 451 Arsenal St., has six staff to manage about 218 units around the county, which represents 300 percent growth over the last four years.

Often, that support just walks through the door, which happened at the foundation's September board meeting.

The foundation, which awarded its first scholarships in 2002, keeps adding new scholarships. They now total 13 after two were added last year.

One of the new scholarships is the Keith Brabant Music Scholarship. Keith E. Brabant, 33, a Clayton native, was the victim of a fatal shooting last April in the town of Alexandria.

Money was raised on Memorial Day weekend at a benefit held at O'Briens Restaurant & Bar and at Frink Park.

"They came to our September board meeting and presented a check for $19,000 they had raised," said John E. Slattery, the foundation's secretary.

"His friends and family decided they wanted to remember him via a scholarship to help people get involved in music," said Mr. Slattery. "We manage the money, but the family does everything else, even the selection. Most of the groups don't want to make the selection. They say, 'Here is our criteria, you figure out who should get it.'"

Potential scholarship recipients fill out an application. The selection process is blind.

"What we offer is a structure and an organization in which people will know their money will be taken care of," said Mr. Slattery. "It will be invested responsibly and we will work with them to have that money spent in whatever way they want it to be spent."

The Brabant scholarship is available to anyone between the ages of 5 and 25. Recipients must demonstrate how music is and will be part of their lives. It can be used for such things as college, instruments, books and music camps.

The other new scholarship is the Margaret Maser Scholarship. Mrs. Maser was the librarian at Clayton High School, which became Thousand Islands Central School. She worked there from 1962 until retiring in 1982. She died on Feb. 28.

"Her heirs wanted to set something up in her memory," said Mr. Slattery.

The foundation has made a provision for such "named scholarships."

Anybody who donates at least $15,000 can name it what they want, and select such things as the criteria and students' background and plans.

Since 2002, the foundation has given out approximately $250,000 in scholarships. The average award is just under $2,000. Yearly amounts given away range from a low of $17,000 in 2002 to a high of $41,606 in 2008.

"The foundation serves students in the Thousand Islands region, not just the Thousand Islands School District," Mr. Slattery said. "That includes Alexandria, LaFargeville and Lyme."

It hosts two fundraisers each year. One is "Give or Get," in which board members are expected to donate $1,000.

"You either donate it yourself, or you go out and get it," Mr. Slattery said.

The other fundraiser is a scholarship dinner at The Clipper Inn, where owner Mike Simpson sells meals to the foundation at a deep discount and the foundation sells them to the public for $10 or $12.

The foundation got its start with a trip to Colorado.

Mr. Slattery, who retired in 2009 after 13 years as superintendent of Thousand Islands Central School District, received a mailing in 2001 about a two-day Snowmass, Colo., workshop on starting a scholarship foundation.

"It happened that our son was performing at the Aspen Music Festival at the same time," Mr. Slattery said.

Tenor Michael M. Slattery has appeared at the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the French National Orchestra in Paris and other venues.

The school picked up the cost of attending the conference for Mr. Slattery. "They gave us a huge notebook on how to start a foundation," he said. "I came back and contacted a few people to see "Where do we go from here?'"

Some of the people he contacted included Nancy C. Taylor-Schmitt, now principal at Indian River Middle School. "She had just moved to the district and was a parent," Mr. Slattery said. "She had been executive director of the Rome YMCA, so she had experience in nonprofits and raising funds."

Everett G. Foster, who died last year, and John F. Stopper also were influential in getting the foundation off the ground.

After a few organizational meetings, Mr. Slattery received a call from Mr. Stopper.

"He said, 'I'd like you to come to lunch with a guy interested in getting on board with the foundation,'" Mr. Slattery said.

That person was Howard E. Lechler, a former Clayton resident who had experience with the Gouverneur Foundation during his days at Cives Steel Corp., where he was chairman of the board.

"He said our foundation was a good idea since higher education was getting more expensive," Mr. Slattery said. "He said he wanted to help the kids and made a contribution."

Mr. Slattery said that contribution was about $200,000. Over the years, his contributions have totaled $500,000, Mr. Slattery said, usually in the form of Cives Steel stock. The Lechler Scholarship, at $4,000 a year for four years, is the foundation's most generous scholarship.