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Messy

So you want to own a winery?

If you think that owning a winery and making wine is glamorous - think again. The real truth is that a winery is more like a loading dock than it is a gourmet kitchen. You spend most of your time moving things around with fork lifts and pallet-jacks, connecting hoses to tanks, and just generally lifting heavy stuff! And you get really messy (see photo)!

Also, the old joke is actually true... In the wine business, how do you end up with a small fortune? You start with a large one! My buddy Norman at Cottonwood Canyon spent years trying to convince me that there are better ways to make a living. And I feel that I must pass along his warnings to you. You also might want to consider reading a couple of books... A Cultivated Life: A Year in a California Vineyard by Joy Sterling of Iron Horse Vineyards, and The Heartbreak Grape: A California Winemaker's Search for the Perfect Pinot Noir by Marq De Villiers about Josh Jensen and his efforts to establish Calera. And after reading these books and taking in account all of the downsides, if you still want to do it, I do have some words of encouragment. I don't think I've ever had any "job" that gave me as much satisfaction and enjoyment as winemaking. Despite the long hours and sore muscles, it's just about the only thing that I'd do for free.

So, if you you just HAVE to do it, here's some information and a bunch of contacts that you might find handy. Learn more.

Licenses and Permits

One of the most difficult things when starting out is to determine what type of license you want and how to go about applying for it. I decided to start out with a wine wholesale license, and then I "upgraded" to a bonded winery in 2003. You'll need a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) permit as well as a license (to sell the wine) from your appropriate state agency. In California, that's the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). You can contact these agencies directly, but my advice to you is to use a "compliance" company. They will help you decide what's the best type of license for you and help you navigate through the endless series of forms. The person that helped me was:
Rachel Dumas at Compli, 8834 Morro Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
Mailing address: P.O. Box 3617, Paso Robles, CA 93446
Phone: (805) 239-4502 FAX: (805) 239-0152 email: Rachel@compli-beverage.com.

Please Note

The following list of suppliers is by no means complete. It just represents those that I've decided to use, based upon reccomendations that I received from other wineries. I've also made a decision to try to use the best possible packaging available - despite the cost. Just recognize that there are many options out there, and the listed reference magazine will help you find them.

Reference

A good magazine to subscribe to is Practical Winery & Vineyard. Along with some really insightful articles, most of the major suppliers advertise with them - so it's a great source of information.

Bottles

Caliber Wine Pak. The bottle we get is Mold #5187 750ml Stelvin Push Up Burgundy in Antique Green.

Screw Caps

Alcan Packaging. We decided to switch over to screw caps starting with the 2004 vintage. We use the Stelvin closures with the Saranex liner. That liner is suppossed to allow some micro-oxygenation. The size closure we get is 30H60 - which is guaranteed to work with the bottle we use. Alcan's CA contact number is (707) 257-6481.

Printing

Paragon Label. Really nice people and easy to work with. They take our artwork and create the labels. No small feat given how different (weird?) our labels are!

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