"We incubate new wines, without the risk of a bricks-and-mortar winery,"
Sheldon Parker, GM.
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Starting in 1993, the Pelissa family converted the former Inglenook facility from a mass production winery into a state-of-the-art custom crush facility.
With an incredible team of craftsmen under the guidance
of Sheldon Parker and Production Winemaker Kristi Koford,
the resulting winery combines flexibility and scale, typical
trade-offs in wine production.
The crush pad can receive harvested fruit in small half-ton
bins as well as trucks or trailers.
- Crushing capacity is 12,000 tons annually, but the facility crushes only 7,000, in order to isolate and handle individual lots according to client needs.
- The crush pad can receive harvested fruit in small half-ton bins, or trailers.
- Red tank fermenters range in size from 6 to 60 tons
in capacity, while white tank fermenters range in
size from 5 to 150 tons.
- A digital wine tracking system, customized for Napa Wine Co., facilitates the complex production process.
The investment in quality equipment didn't stop
in the 90s. For the 2001 vintage, the company began using
its new underground press pit, a large, cement-lined cavity
that is home for a new, French-made crusher de-stemmer and
all hoppers. The traditional augurs that move fruit were
sold and replaced with conveyor belts that gently move fruit.
The gravity-flow design and equipment facilitates hand-sorting,
whole cluster pressings, and other techniques used to make
luxury wines.
Now, more than 60 wineries produce over 150 individual wines each vintage.
Prospective clients interested in more information should contact Sheldon Parker, general manager, at sparker@napawineco.com.
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