I think perhaps there is more than one model of “custom crush.” I think that was Crush Pad’s only thing, i.e., they did not have the winery making their own well-distributed label. Many of the wineries that make their own wines allow others to custom crush at their facility. I have been making Black Cat at Judd’s Hill winery for 19 years. At 150-200 cases annually, I could never afford my own brick and mortar winery. I don’t oversee the chemistry (fermentation) and I don’t do the racking. Everything else, from growing/ picking/sorting/delivering the fruit to the winery, to barrel purchasing, to label design, blending, and bottling is my responsibility. Of course I use their experienced cellar staff to do the filtering and some heavy stuff, but I control when we do it, and am there every step of the way. They know their jobs, and I know how I want my product. And if you have not worked on a bottling line, you just haven’t lived!
We have a very small (230 vines) vineyard at our house in Healdsburg near Limerick Lane. We have been looking for a service to help us produce wine from those grapes but haven’t found anything that operates at that scale (what would that be, maybe 30 cases?). So yes I might be interested but of course price would be an object.
I think the OP was selling a venture, or considering it, but maybe not. Otherwise it’s a weird first time question.
I can see people wanting to do it and know people who became proficient wine makers as a result of their desire to do it themselves. But that’s true for everything isn’t it? You can go out to eat, or you can cook, or you can tell the chef to fry the onions, steam the broccoli, grill the meat, and call it your own. All of those can be OK and the learning experience may be a wonderful thing.
So what he’s described is pretty much what the celebrity wine makers do isn’t it? Except that they have someone who knows what he’s doing give them some advice. Otherwise, John Legend, Mike Ditka, Drew Barrymore, Greg Norman, etc. wouldn’t have any wine out.
Merrill, agreed, there’s more than one flavor, but I think most custom crush facilities tend to be b2b, while, from what I recall/understand, CrushPad more targeted enthusiasts. Now, some custom crush places will crush for enthusiasts (a dollar is a dollar), but for the most part they’re not pushing that part of the business.
No. Why would I? I can buy wines from stores that sell stories!
What’s the service, then? The spiel is throwing out an array of enticements. What the reality is depends on the particular facility. If they were just offering an alternating proprietorship, you wouldn’t see that sort of sales spiel, which is aimed at enticing you to dip you toe in the water. You’d already be in and just looking for the right facility. I’m reading between the lines because I know many winemakers who do custom crush and am friends with a couple of the main guys from Crush Pad. You don’t “control” “grape selection” if you’re going out and sourcing your grapes. That wording means you’re being offered a list of THEIR sources to order from. “The blend” makes me think of celebrity wines. They go through the tasting and blending ritual and proclaim themselves winemakers, when what they are choosing from is already made wine at the facility. They’re offering you hand holding while pumping up your ego. Them doing everything for you is always an option. Beyond that, it depends.
What I’ve seen work is finding a young up-and-coming assistant winemaker who’s at a place that allows them to make their own wine. They’re out there. Something to play with that they’re in charge of may be enticing. Them having a mentor right there to lean on can ease your mind a bit. (But, don’t expect to be able to touch your own grapes or wine in the facility.)
As I read the original post, “if money were not an issue” just means setting aside the cost, how much interest is there in a service that helps you make a barrel of wine “yourself” with their help on the infrastructure and actual grungy bits. After all, anyone with an unlimited amount of money for such a dream could just start their own winery and would not need a service.
So, I think it’s a question to gauge market interest. At some level, this is pretty similar to Crushpad except that I think this is more aimed at people or groups interested in making a wine for personal consumption than for retail.
-Al
Didn’t one of the earlier wine boards do this as a group? Can’t remember if it was eRP or wino-depot?
This. If money were not an issue, I would buy a vineyard or enter into a real commercial contract to buy grapes from a great grower, buy or build a winery, and hire a really good staff, winemaker included. Then I would shadow that winemaker for a few years and maybe after that try some on my own.
no. Leave it to experts.
We used to tease about creating a do it yourself step by step home vasectomy kit and making millions. But we are a bit twisted.
No. I already have too many producers from whom I wish to buy wines. Unless I am getting grapes from la Tache or Romanee Conti, I don’t see the point. Seens like a gimmick for overpriced wines from mediocre terroir.
Frankly, if money were no object, I would buy a grand cru vineyard in Burgundy (actually two, one red and one white), lease it to top producers and get part of my payment in wine.
What does grape selection mean? Can I select grapes from old vines in Musigny farmed by Mugnier or Roumier and then get them to make the wine for me?
To be honest, the closest to some of this that would seem to be fun would be to go to Beaune, attend the Hospice de Beaune auction, buy a barrel of unfinished wine (presumably that you have tasted samples from) and hire someone really good to finish the wine for you (probably would want to arrange this first).
For somebody who is a little crazy about wine but knows little about the practicalities of making it, this idea might just be the ticket. Let’s say you work in a city close to a wine region. Portland, San Francisco, and LA come to mind. On Saturdays you work in the vineyard or in the cellar, and help at harvest. You pay X amount of money and you get wine with your own label. At the end of the day you have learned a lot. Part of the agreement is that you not become a commercial winemaker until you have completed the wine selling apprenticeship.
It means the custom crush facility buys grapes from several vineyards. Their clients then select what they’d like made for them from that menu. You know… “control”.
toi
Worked with Gary Vaynerchuck when he did this with 2007 fruit. It was an OK experience and the wine was only OK. Didn’t have any lasting power and was essentially dead at 5 years. So, would I do it again. Probably not. I went to the crush tasted the fruit that was going in but I don’t know enough to make these judgements.
Oh, and it was a Cabernet Sauvignon and it was at Crushpad.
Yep, Gary Vaynerchuck. Some of us did more than others. I was intimately involved in the project. Met Gary on his wine cruise and offered to help.
Sign me up.
Surely you know better than to get involved in winemaking.
-Al