Custom Crushers Join Forces
Crushpad, the ultimate urban winery on a downtown San Francisco street, is expanding its reach to Napa Valley.
Napa, Calif. -- San Francisco's fast-growing Crushpad micro-custom crush business and Napa's Bin to Bottle conventional custom crush facility have joined to integrate their services and serve larger wine businesses. They had been working together informally since 2006.
The combination merges Crushpad's unique wine business services -- many based on proprietary software -- with Bin to Bottle's larger custom crush capabilities. Michael Brill, the founder and CEO of Crushpad, said, "It solves a problem for both of us. They're trying to differentiate themselves with quality services, which are hard to sell. For us, it combines our concept such as services based on software with their lower cost structure."
The companies are targeting wine brands in the 500- to 5,000-case range, hoping to attract clients by saving each brand tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours annually compared to trying to produce and market wine on their own.
Crushpad, which was started as a service to allow consumers to produce professional-quality wines, has evolved into a business that caters to many aspiring commercial small wine producers. This happened partly because the company developed software for the marketing and distribution functions of wineries as well as production.
Crushpad Commerce now accounts for almost 70% of Crushpad's total revenue. It integrates proprietary and other technologies with human-based services into a single entity with a single contact point for:
• Winemaking: Consulting winemaking, fruit sourcing and production
• Legal issues and compliance: All licensing, compliance and reporting in more than 35 states
• eCommerce and marketing: Brand development, shopping cart, clubs, social media; Fulfillment: Storage; pick, pack and ship; FedEx/UPS/LTL
Crushpad Commerce now works with more than 150 wine brands, handling the details of the dozens of relationships, technologies and services necessary to support a successful wine business.
The partnership with Bin to Bottle extends these services to larger brands by utilizing Bin to Bottle's custom-crush wine production services. Crushpad has established offices within the Bin to Bottle facility, and both companies are selling the integrated service.
"It was the perfect fit," John Wilkinson, president and founder of Bin to Bottle, told Wines & Vines. "All the services Crushpad offers are complementary to ours, and we don't offer any of theirs -- except winemaking."
He added, "Now we can do everything for our customers from grape delivery to delivering bottles to the customer."
Wilkson said the alliance also solved Crushpad's needs to serve large customers. "They were mostly a bin-fermentation operation, and we can offer tanks. We can handle 2,200 tons and large jobs they can't."
Bin to Bottle is also adding additional services including alcohol removal. "We expect to get our DSP (Distilled Spirits Plant) permit shortly," Wilkinson said.
In addition to the relationship with Crushpad Commerce, Bin to Bottle is providing numerous new wine treatment services for 2009, including alcohol reduction, VA removal and cross-flow filtration.
It is also introducing a new "Winemaker Concierge" service for Bin to Bottle clients. The free service provides office space, administrative support and even personal services such as dry cleaning and laundry drop off/pick up, car washing, picking up lunch and cold draft beer during the hectic harvest period. Bin to Bottle has also established numerous green initiatives, and is a CCOF organically certified winery.
Members of the Crushpad community sort Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Napa's Howell Mountain.
Crushpad is a custom winemaking service with locations in San Francisco and Napa Valley, with more than 5,000 clients including professional winemakers, wine enthusiasts, fine wine retailers and restaurants. Crushpad specializes in small-lot, luxury wine production from quality vineyards in California, Oregon and Washington. The company was founded in 2004 by wine industry veterans and technology industry refugees For more information about Crushpad, contact Noah Dorrance at noah@crushpdawine.com or (415) 864-4232.
Bin to Bottle is a full service custom crush facility located in South Napa. It was founded in 2006 by veterans with more than 85 years of wine business experience, including winemaker Marco DiGiulio. It's focused on ultra-premium and luxury class wine production, and is home to numerous prestigious Napa Valley brands. During 2009, the company plans to add a 25,000-square-foot barrel storage building with a 400-square-foot tasting room adjacent to the existing winery facility; in 2010, it will add 13,000 square feet of case storage.
For more information about Bin to Bottle, visit bintobottle.com, contact John Wilkinson at john@bintobottle.com or (707) 307-4510 ext. 103.