Hi, after several years of acting as a passive investor and being on the board of a boutique sonoma winery, i am now taking on a more active role in helping one of the investors establish a new wine venture.
For reasons not relevant here, we have decided not to use the custom crush facility being used by the existing company and are looking for a new facility to custom crush our grapes. Between my partner’s vineyard and another friend’s vineyard, we anticipate 17-20 tons/year (cab/merlot/petit verdot). We also currently have about 600 cases of 2011 cab and 1600 cases of 2012 cab/merlot that will need a new home soon.
While we are both frequently in the sonoma area and have children in the bay area, we each live in LA so we are hoping to find a facility near healdsburg that is used to dealing with absentee owners and can handle as much of the process as possible.
I’d appreciate any recommendations people would have. We are also looking at the wine foundry, which is appealing because they can also handle the compliance and fulfillment aspects of our venture as well, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who has worked with them in the past.
we had an onsite winemaker, custom crush at Rack & Riddle. let’s just say that certain of the investors and the winemaker have had creative differences.
one more thing: we were happy with rack & riddle, just want to have a fresh start somewhere else closer to the vineyard if possible. and we could go back if we don’t find anyplace else.