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Custom crush wineries: the California scene and wines to try
How do you break into the wine business with a new winery project without breaking the bank? If Dave Phinney’s The Prisoner is anything to go by, then custom crush facilities might be the answer. Stacy Slinkard explores this expanding wine model in California.
It’s no secret that buying or building a winery requires a significant capital investment. With initial expenditures being cost prohibitive for most start-up projects, many would-be wines might never get made.
Enter the imaginative (and relatively economical) custom crush concept. Custom crush facilities are bonded wineries that allow their clients to produce wine on site. They typically provide start-to-finish winemaking equipment and consulting services for both commercial and private clients.
Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 10 wines from California custom crush sites
JW Reynoso of Reynoso Family Vineyards in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley, explains: ‘As barriers to entry increase with land values, construction costs and, most importantly, regulatory requirements, custom crush becomes a much more attractive and economical option.’
The innovative winemakers and growers using these facilities bring great dynamism to both their wines as well as their direct-to-consumer marketing strategies. Wine volumes vary wildly, from boutique one-off labels of a few hundred bottles to larger portfolios, where production numbers exceed 10,000 cases a year.
What are custom crush wineries?
Custom crush facilities allow members to share the collective costs of making and marketing wine – including dealing with all the regulatory paperwork required to be a fully licensed and bonded winery.
Facilities not only provide high-end winemaking equipment, a range of tanks and barrels and comprehensive packaging, bottling lines and storage options. They also offer access to skilled winemaking staff, marketing services and, more recently, on-site tasting rooms for clients to showcase their wines directly to consumers.
Winemaking facilities at The Wine Foundry in Napa.
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Sites offer both commercial and private clients everything they need in a functional grape to glass service. Many commercial brands bring in their own fruit and winemakers, making all of the vinification decisions from crush to bottle themselves. Private clients may need more technical input, and tend to rely on custom crush facilities to assist in everything from sourcing fruit to winemaking and packaging with the in-house winemaking team.
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Essentially, the custom crush model comes down to economies of scale, allowing producers to focus on building a brand, without the worry about capital investments, infrastructure, equipment maintenance or extensive staffing requirements.
‘Custom crush sites are often incubators for small brands,’ explains Robert Morris, co-founder of Grand Cru Custom Crush. ‘And there are some pretty amazing wines made by some very talented winemakers coming out of today’s facilities.’
Who uses them?
Start-up wineries are the ideal custom crush client, says Ryan Pritchard, winemaker for Flambeaux Wine and Three Sticks. ‘It’s a way for innovative winemakers to get access to the equipment and expertise they might not have had elsewhere.’ The facilities often function as an incubator for start-up brands until they can fund their own wineries.
Established winemakers are also tapping into the model to make their own labels, or partner with upcoming brands on projects. Many also look to custom crush facilities to help shoulder expansion by increasing off-site tank space for portfolio development. Even winemaking legends like Philippe Melka (Lail, Brand, Raymond, Moone-Tsai, Fairchild etc) use them for client projects.
Reynoso has been making estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc with Sugarloaf Crush for the past seven years. ‘It can actually be better than owning your own winery, as you have access to winemaking tools and equipment that might otherwise be out of reach,’ he explains.
The hospitality space at Sugarloaf Crush in Sonoma.
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Many consumers may not realise just how many well-known, affordable and approachable brands are being made right alongside premium wines selling for hundreds of dollars. Whether clients bring in their own fruit and winemaker, or opt to buy a finished wine to bottle and label privately for wholesale or retail intent, custom crush allows for easy pivots as a one-stop winemaking shop.
However, it’s not just winemakers and start ups that are leaning into the model. Growers are also utilising custom crush in big ways. According to Raleigh O’Brien, director of winery operations at Red Custom Crush, growers who don’t sell their fruit at harvest can sell the finished wine through brokers, giving them a more profitable alternative when grape prices aren’t optimal, or when the buyers are not available at harvest time.
Custom crush facility vs European cooperative
The European winery co-operative concept and the custom crush model work on a distinctly different premise. Unlike a co-op, which is usually owned by a collective of growers or winemakers who pool resources to share equipment, knowledge and often grapes, custom crush facilities have clients who each pay for that access.
‘Custom crush sites are cooperatives in a sense that you are sharing equipment and resources,’ says Pritchard, ‘but brands are operating independently within the structure of the facility.’
Ryan Pritchard uses the Grand Cru Custom Crush facility for his Flambeaux wines.
(Image credit: Credit Unknown)
Raleigh O’Brien with Red Custom Crush adds: ‘While our ownership structure is different, the service we provide remains the same, and that is to offer a facility and processing for both winemakers and growers, typically at a much lower cost than they’d face in building their own winery.’
It’s no secret that opening a new winery in prime regions like Napa Valley or Sonoma County is cost prohibitive for most – from the initial capital investment needed to build or buy it, to the continuing maintenance.
That’s the niche that custom crush facilities meet – in all their unique, scalable and versatile ways. And it’s a model we will undoubtedly see increase in California and beyond, as more enterprising start-ups become recognised, inspiring others to give their wine ideas wings.
The Prisoner
Perhaps the most famous custom crush client is Dave Phinney. You might not have heard of him, but you will certainly know his red blend The Prisoner, which had an initial production of just 385 cases when he first made it in 2000. He sold the brand in 2010 for a reported $40 million, and it is now part of the giant Constellation, which now churns out close to 200,000 cases a year.
This facility in Sonoma is home to more than 20 family-owned wineries, producing between 60,000 and 80,000 cases of wine a year. Black Kite, Flambeaux Wines, String Cellars, Ernest Vineyards and Maritana are top brands to keep an eye on. With a focus on hospitality, Grand Cru was one of the first sites to include upscale private tasting rooms for its clients to book for customers. Visitors can drop in for tastings of member wines and it also boasts a retail shop.
Once a custom crush client itself, Sonoma’s Sugarloaf Crush makes wine from 44 CaliforniaAVAs and 35 grape varieties. Its state-of-the-art equipment includes access to a cloud-based winery management system that allows clients to track inventory and work orders in real time. Hospitality is a big deal here and general manager Ronald Du Preez has created a 650sqm wing complete with commercial kitchen, indoor and outdoor space for both intimate tastings and large-scale events and even bocce ball courts. Brands to try include: Sosie, J Cage Cellars, McIntyre and Reynoso Family Vineyards.
Rob Kblecka of Robert James Wines heralds HCC as a ‘winemaker’s crush facility’: winemakers of small-lot, premium brands are hands-on themselves instead of the HCC in-house team making wine to client specifications. Wineries of note include Robert James Wines, Sassoferrato and Brick & Mortar.
From the usual high-tech facilities for commercial brands, to micro-scale opportunities for friends to create a custom barrel of wine together, to learning how to design, package and launch a private label – the menu options at this Napa business are staggering. Innovative wines coming out of The Wine Foundry range from the Anarchist Wine Co’s orange wine made from skin-contact Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer and Viognier, the approachable appeal of Ludor’s Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon, to The Wine Foundry’s own luxury single-vineyard Cabernet.
Custom crush wineries: 10 top picks from California
Stacy is a freelance wine writer and educator. She holds the certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) from the Society of Wine Educators and her Advanced Certificate with distinction from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET 3). Stacy’s writing has appeared in SOMM Journal, Decanter, Wine.com, Wine Folly, VinePair, The Idiot’s Guide to Wine (3rd Edition), The NY Times, The Daily Meal, and other wine-soaked outlets.
