Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/122527
cover story be and Photoshop." A thousand 3-inch x 4-inch labels, he said, can cost between 7 and 20 cents to produce. "We've targeted the wine market, providing different substrata, some coated in colors, and specific coatings optimized for our set of ink. They're extremely waterresistant. We're flexible and can produce any shape of die-cutting." Primera has a staff that includes compliance experts and a custom label department to work on shapes, sizes and materials. When shopping for a printer, Chalmers recommended, "Make sure you get samples of your printed labels before deciding. We offer an unconditional 30-day return policy." Primera's LX 400 printer retails for $1,495, and the company also offers semi-automatic label applicators for single or front-and-back labels at $1,495 and $1,795. brands including JK, Wildfire, Stray Dog and Fling, he now owns two Primeras and has become a reseller for the company. His wife recently opened a retail operation in Placerville selling wines with personalized labels to commemorate weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays—even a divorce. "Our philosophy and mission," Gendron said, is "one bottle or 1,000 cases." After shopping around four years ago, he decided on Primera because he found it printed faster, was more mechanized and was already programmed. "Primera has outstanding tech support," Gendron said. "We called all the time when we started; they could manipulate it through my computer." Each of his printers is operated by a designated computer system. Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant LLC operates a chain of 12 restaurants ranging as far as Florida from its base in Countryside, Ill. The restaurants only serve wines from Cooper's Hawk, which produces some 150,000 cases per year. (Continued on page 36.) Customers comment Sierra Foothills Wine Service in Placerville, Calif., provides wine storage, logistics, trucking and warehousing for 45 other wineries, producing around 10,000 cases per year. Mark Gendron founded the company in 2010, after selling JanKris Winery in Paso Robles, Calif. Sierra Foothills uses the Primera LX 900 to provide custom labels for clients across the country, including wine shops in Maryland, a restaurant chain in Virginia, a grocery chain and college campus stores in New England. Gendron bottles wine under his license and transfers in bond. He has distributors all over the United States. "Distributors pick me up just for that service," he said. "Our last order was six pallets, and we're now doing a three-pallet order for Rhode Island." Although he uses commercial printers for the more elaborate labels of his own QuickLabel's newest printer, the speedy Kiaro!, is already in use in some 50 wineries. Win es & V i n es M AY 20 13 33