Okanagan to get new custom crush

Facilities in Northwest help develop newer winegrowing regions

Okanagan Crush Pad Winery benefits from the expertise of winemaker Michael Bartier (left to right), advisor David Scholefield, partner Christine Coletta, consulting winemaker Alberto Antonini, partner Steve Lornie.

Summerland, British Columbia— The expansion of custom crush facilities in the Pacific Northwest, and the launch of some new facilities, underscore the maturation of the region’s wine industry. The region’s newest custom crush operation is Okanagan Crush Pad Winery, formerly licensed as Haywire Winery, which will continue as a brand of the new venture.

“This is the next thing that needs to happen,” said Christine Coletta, who with Steve Lornie is building a 7,750-square-foot winery that will be ready in time for the 2011 harvest. The facility will encourage new entrants to the B.C. industry, which is dominated by small wineries.

“Our goal is to help people get started,” Coletta told Wines & Vines. “It’s just cost-prohibitive for people to get into the business now.”

Haywire, which Coletta and Lornie launched in 2009, required $100,000 in its first year (all dollar amounts in Canadian dollars) to produce 150 cases from three tons of grapes when branding, marketing and associated costs were factored in. Coletta compared this to the approximately $6,000 per ton she estimated is required to take grapes themselves to market as wine. “We need to encourage our best and brightest to get into this business and stay here. Right now, it’s such a daunting proposition to establish a vineyard, open a winery all on your own,” Coletta said.

Clients will be restricted to vineyard owners who want to go vertical into winemaking, and existing wineries that want to make small lots of wine but don’t have the space. “What we found really difficult was finding the space to do what we wanted to do,” Coletta said. “Even though there’s a willingness on behalf of many wineries to help their neighbors get into the business and get established, sometimes the problem is finding the physical space to do it.”

Vintners will be able to depend on significant expertise at Okanagan Crush Pad. Veteran winemaker Michael Bartier, formerly of 16,000-case Road 13 Vineyards south of Oliver, will head cellar operations, assisted by consulting winemaker Alberto Antonini and wine advisor David Scholefield.
Bartier and Scholefield will launch their own brand from the winery this summer, while the facility’s first client will be Similkameen Valley grower and educator Rhys Pender.

Oregon benefits from custom-crush
The development of custom-crush facilities is an important step in the development of a wine region, said Linda Donovan, partner in Pallet Wine Co. of Medford, Ore. “You feel when a place is getting big enough and growing fast enough and really starting to make some serious wines, a custom-crush facility is necessary,” she said.

Pallet opened a 21,000-square-foot facility in a converted warehouse in downtown Medford two years ago. Renovations and improvements to the building are ongoing, but Pallet has become the largest custom-crush facility in Southern Oregon, with 21 clients in addition to Donovan’s own L. Donovan Wines label. The number of clients doubled for Pallet’s second vintage, and it hopes to max out its 30,000-case capacity by 2013.

“We really help our clients understand what’s necessary before they go out and build their own facility. Several of our clients have decided that they don’t want to do it,” Donovan said, during a break from work in the facility’s lab. “It’s nice to give people the option of not having to build a facility and be able to continue to make and to sell and to grow wine.”