Some years ago, a friend at a major wine import firm arranged a private tour of the world-famous Louis Jadot winery outside Beaune, France. The chief oenologist, a geeky young woman sporting a blonde bob, brought the winemaking process to life from grape to bottle, with many stops along the way to sip Burgundies straight from oak barrels at progressing stages in the aging process. Her craft was the perfect blend of art, technology, and tastiness. She had the best job in the world.
Those who regularly shell out a "hundy" for a pinot may harbor fantasies of taking part in the process: harvest, de-stemming, crushing, barreling, ageing, tasting, "punching down" (where the grape skins are smashed back down into the juice to deepen the tannins and complexity of the wine), the bottling, labeling . . . this fruit alchemy, thousands of years old, is quite involved. Think you need to own a winery to achieve such harmonic bliss in a glass? Not anymore.
Enter Crushpad, your friend in the wine biz.
Founded in 2005 by Michael Brill as a do-it-yourself (DIY) winery in downtown San Francisco, with the mission to "set the grapes free," says current CEO Peter Ekard, who took the reins in August 2011, Crushpad brought the concept of DIY winemaking into a whole new territory: the winemaking experience at any level of participation, from following grapes, from vine to label, to "winemaking from the boardroom," as Ekard puts it.
Boasting a bevy of C-level clients, Crushpad offers opportunities heretofore unthinkable to hobbyists in their "Share A Barrel" program, and to cult-wine creators who have become celebrities in their own local culinary-oenophile culture. Crushpad micro-winemakers have earned 90-plus ratings in legit publications such as The Wine Enthusiast and are blowing away diners at fine eateries from South Carolina to Texas, New Jersey, and of course, California.
Ekard's voice displays a genuine enthusiasm for affording his clients entrée to their dream world of wine, chatting animatedly as he drives through Sonoma County, arguably one of the most esthetically beautiful places in America, blessed with a microclimate similar to Bordeaux, universally acclaimed as the greatest wine-grape-producing environment in the world.
A few years ago Crushpad moved its operations to Sonoma's Sebastiani Winery. Why the move? "Our clients are from all over the U.S. and globally. The experience of making wine in world-famous California wine country is more compelling, interesting, and genuine," Ekard says.
In this winemaking paradise, better yet, playground, hobbyists and successful winemakers share facilities in the fully operational winery. Some come to Sonoma (or to Crushpad Bordeaux, at Chateau Teyssier in the heart of St. Emilion, a grand cru property dating back to 1714) to get elbow-deep in the process. Others do most of their winemaking by phone or Internet.
Crushpad's strength, according to Ekard, is in its relationships with over 50 of the top vineyards in California and France, giving clients necessary sourcing for choice varietals. A team of experts assists clients in choosing grapes, yeasts, and barrels, and even designing labels. Always tweaking and upgrading its services, Crushpad will add new varietals for 2012, including a Sonoma "Mountain Cabernet."
A barrel at Crushpad might be just the gift for the man or woman who has everything ... except a winery.