Foley takes ‘major’ stake in Crushpad, moves it to Sonoma

SONOMA –  Bill Foley has added to his growing portfolio of wine companies with what’s being described as a “major investment” in Crushpad, a custom winery for hundreds of hobbyists and small-scale labels that moved to Napa Valley a year ago and now is bound for another of Mr. Foley’s holdings, Sebastiani Vineyards in Sonoma.

By the end of this month, Crushpad plans to relocate from leased space at Silverado Trail Wine Studios just north of Napa to larger, dedicated space in the Sebastiani Vineyards winery at 389 Fourth St. E., located a few blocks from Sonoma Plaza.

“This move to Sebastiani will allow us to further refine our winemaking processes to produce even more phenomenal wines, while giving our clients the opportunity to showcase their brands to tens of thousands of Sonoma tourists at our new tasting bar, opening later this year,” said Michael Brill, Crushpad founder and chief executive officer.

The tasting bar will serve the company’s more than 100 clients in the Crushpad Commerce program and include features such as touchscreen informational kiosks and automated wine dispensers. Mr. Brill said the new facility will allow more collaboration between client vintners and employ web-based winemaking technologies.

Crushpad will continue to offer its clients the option of using custom winery Bin to Bottle in south Napa. The two companies entered a winemaking services agreement in February 2010, just before Crushpad committed to a move to Napa Valley from San Francisco.

Crushpad customers have created more than 5,000 wines since its founding in 2004 in San Francisco. The company also has a winemaking facility in the Bordeaux region of France.

Mr. Foley acquired Sebastiani Vineyards from the namesake family around the beginning of 2009 and put it into a new wine company called Foley Family Wines. Starting in 1996, his portfolio now includes more than a dozen California, Washington and New Zealand wine brands, including Chalk Hill acquired last August, a vodka brand and two hotels, such as Le Mars in Healdsburg.