Frequently Asked Questions - Napa
Where is Crushpad moving? We are moving to the Silverado Trail Wine Studio (STWS) located on 3105 Silverado Trail in the Oak Knoll district in Napa Valley. We will have our own offices and entrance in this shared use facility.
Why is Crushpad moving? Getting a major presence on Silverado Trail is an opportunity of our lifetime. We can now offer many more experiences in wine country in areas such as viticulture education, something that our clients have been asking us for since we started in 2004. Additionally, our commercial clients gain a tasting room on a major Napa thoroughfare and our larger clients have access to larger ferment capabilities which will reduce their costs. Finally, Crushpad will be exposed to over five million wine tourists a year.
When I visit Napa, can I visit the vineyards? That's one of the upsides of being there. Right now in San Francisco, it is very hard to coordinate visits. And not only are many of our vineyards located near the winery, our winery itself is surrounded by a vineyard where we will be adding new educational seminars on grape growing.
What will Crushpad winemakers do and what will STWS staff do? Crushpad staff will continue to do all client-facing activities including wine plans, sensory-based winemaking, blending, etc. STWS staff will be doing most of the behind-the-scenes production work of punchdowns, pressing, topping, racking, etc. Given our unique requirements, Crushpad will also continue to do its bottling and lab work. Of course, like always, you are welcome to come in and participate as much as you like with our winemaking team.
What kind of equipment does the new winery have? The biggest difference is the addition of larger tanks to augment our small lot capabilities. We are bringing most of our equipment with us for doing high end production of small lots.
Is there a tasting room? Yes. We will be pouring wines and offering a wine club for wines made by many of our Crushpad Commerce members.
What about my wines in San Francisco? All barrels are being moved to Napa except those scheduled to be bottled in February in San Francisco.
Will you still ship from San Francisco? We will continue to do shipping and pickups out of our warehouse at 566 Minnesota Street. We are evaluating whether to keep those operations there or move them up near the Napa winery later this year.
Will my label say Napa on it? Yes, for wines that don't already have labels printed, we will show that they are bottled in Napa, CA.
Do I have/get to ferment in a big tank? It's up to you. If you want to ferment by yourself and control every decision like you do now, you can keep on doing that. If you want to save some money by sharing a larger fermentation then you can do that as well. We'll have several options this year.
Will you still host events? There is not as much extra space as we have in the city, but we do plan on continuing our blending sessions and tasting seminars. We will also partner with other venues for corporate events.
Is everyone moving to Napa? Our winemaking team and most of our client-facing operations are moving to Napa. Some of us are actually moving house to Napa as well. We will maintain a small San Francisco-based office for software development, finance and a couple other folks.
What about your relationship with Bin to Bottle? Crushpad partnered with Bin to Bottle in 2009 to provide a growth path for our larger clients. We have been impressed with Bin to Bottle and will refer opportunities to them that have very large production needs that don't require Crushpad Commerce services.
