«
»

Want to Bottle Your Own Wine?

Sep 22nd, 2008 by admin | 0
You don’t need to have the knowledge, the equipment or even the winery.  And no, it’s not done in your kitchen.  Well, how is it done?  Entrepreneurs and full-fledged businesses are using Custom Crush Facilities, and they are popping up across the West Coast.  Custom Crush Facilities handle everything from crushing, to bottling, to producing the finished product.  They are not new to the world of wine, but what is new is these facilities are branching out and bringing the production process all under one roof while offering these services to clientele interested in producing their own label.

Custom crushing, or custom processing means many different things.  It can range from simple juicing to complete “grape-to-grave” service packages.  The facility ferments, masters and then bottles your wine.

Custom Crush Wineries come in all shapes and sizes. There are large, custom-only facilities in California’s major wine making regions; Napa Wine Company,Oakville, Sonoma Wine Company,Graton,

Monterey Wine Company,King City, and Central Coast Wine Services,Paso Robles, and Santa Maria.   All of these wineries almost exclusively process for others.  There are also traditional branded wineries that make their own labels, but also allow custom clients access to their cellars.  Castoro Cellars in Paso Robles, and Laird Family Estate in Napa both process, store and bottle for others.

And if you are interested in more than just your own personal label, another custom processing option offers clients a greater level of hands-on control through shared premise arrangements. While sharing space and equipment with an established winery or grower, a small company or even just a group of friends can literally rent the privilege of making their own wine in someone else’s facility.

Entrepreneurs are using this opening into the wine industry, and are coming up with some truly “custom” contracts.  So much so that some Custom Crush Facilities are offering clients “custom” services like adjusting the alcohol content, or filtering out unwanted sulfides.  The facilities provide these extra services to let interested parties understand that the idea is not a cookie-cutter operation, and one size does not fit all.  You can literally tailor your agreement with a winery to fit you needs, desires and taste.

Given the high price of fuel, the demand for new grape-to-bottle custom crush facilities will probably continue to increase in grape-growing regions.  So if you’re a wine lover with a little cash, bottling your own wine is literally in reach.

Custom Crush Facilities 

August Cellars Newberg, OR 503-554-6766 www.augustcellars.com
Castoro Winery San Miguel, CA 805-467-2002 www.castorocellars.com
Central Coast Wine Services Santa Maria, CA 805-928-9210 www.centralcoastwineservices.com
Courtside Cellars San Miguel, CA 805-782-0300 www.courtsidecellars.com
Golden State Vintners Soledad, CA 707-254-4900 na
Laird Family Estate Napa, CA 877-297-4902 www.lairdfamilyestate.com
Lange Twins Woodbridge, CA 209-339-4055 www.langetwins.com
McManis Faily Vineyards Ripon, CA 209-599-1186 www.mcmanisfamilyvineyards.com
Milano Winery Hopland, CA 707-744-1396 www.milanowinery.com
Monterey Wine Company King City, CA 831-386-1100 www.montereywinecompany.com
Napa Wine Company Oakville, CA 800-848-9630 www.napawineco.com
Paso Robles Wine Services Paso Robles, CA 805-226-7458 www.pasorobleswineservices.com
Premium Wine Group Mattituck, NY 631-298-1900 www.customcrush.com
Sonoma Wine Company Graton, CA 707-829-6104 www.sonoma-wineco.com
Scheid Vineyards Greenfield, CA 707-688-3628 www.scheidvineyards.com
Wente Livermore, CA 925-456-2300 www.wentevineyards.com
——————

 

Wine Accessories

 

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Filed under: wine blog | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Leave a Reply