TECHNICAL REVIEW
WINEMAKING
Rhys Vineyards
Winery Case Production
Owner
Kevin Harvey
11715 Skyline Blvd., Los Gatos, Calif.
(650) 419-2050 • rhysvineyards.com
Winemaker
Jeff Brinkman
Vineyard Manager
Javier Meza
5,000
Rhys Vineyards
3,400
Santa Cruz County Average
80,000
California Average
44,000
U.S. Average
0 40,000 80,000
Winery AVA
Santa Cruz Mountains
Winery Average Bottle Price
$59
Rhys Vineyards
YEAR
BONDED
2010
DTC SALES
99%
vineyard
acreage
72
$28
Santa Cruz County Average
$8
California Average
the challenge
$9
U.S. Average
$0
$30
$60
Source: WinesVinesDATA
General contractor
Nordby Construction & Wine Caves,
nordby.net
Electrical
Cimino Electric, ciminoelectric.com
Septic
Able Engineering Service, ableserve.com
Architect
Peterson Architects, petersonarch.com
Steel and concrete
Williams Associates Engineering,
williamsae.com
HVAC
Risse Mechanical, (408) 437-1847
Plumbing
Risse Mechanical
Water wells,
reverse osmosis
Simms Plumbing, (650) 879-0739;
De Anza Water, deanzawater.com
Stainless trench drains
ACO Polymer Products, acousa.com
Dyed concrete floors
North Coast Concrete,
northcoastconcreteinc.com
Sand-finished acrylic
sprayed walls
Luke Construction,
lukeconstruction.com
Weather station
Ranch Systems, ranchsystems.com
mcm an us photo graphy
BUILDING THE WINERY
Packaging the Wine
Bottling
Gai 1205 Monoblock, AWS/Prospero,
prosperocorp.biz
Labeler
Demptos Glass, demptos.com
Closures
Single-origin 2-inch USS cork, Scott Laboratories,
scottlab.com
Labels
PS eggshell felt paper, Tapp Label Technologies,
tapptech.com
Capsules
Black 120micron 62mmx30mm, Rivercap USA,
corksupply.com
Making the wine
Sorting table,
inclined conveyor
P&L Specialties,
pnlspecialties.com
Crusher
Armbruster Rotovib 10, Scott Laboratories,
scottlab.com
Presses
2.25-ton basket press from Carlsen & Associates,
carlsenassociates.com; Willmes Sigma 4 from
Scott Laboratories
Fermentors
Ten 1-ton oak upright, Tonnellerie Rousseau,
tonnellerie-rosseau.com; and 120 1-ton stainless
steel tanks
Tanks
Two stainless pressurizable tanks at 2,100 gallons; one each at 240 gallons, 500 gallons, 750
gallons and 1,100 gallons; large tanks by Idiaz
Services, idiazservices.com; smaller tanks by
Product Lines Unlimited, (707) 485-9399
Racking wands
Bulldog Pup, bulldogmfg.com
Barrels
Francois Freres four-year air-dried, MT+ VTG
228-liter Burgundy shape, Francois Freres,
Mel Knox Barrel Broker, knoxbarrels.com
Barrel rack
Stainless steel two-barrel 4-inch and 7-inch
racks, Western Square Industries,
westernsquare.com
Yeasts
native
Appellation(s)
Anderson Valley, San Mateo County,
Santa Cruz Mountains
Vine rootstock
420A, Riparia Bloire / 101-14, 309C
GAI 6020 PS labeler, AWS/Prospero
Bottles
52 W IN E S & V I NE S M AY 2 01 3
photos by kelly
Winemaker Jeff Brinkman helped guide the development of Rhys Vineyards' winery from
an operation in owner Kevin Harvey's garage to a warehouse to, finally, an elaborate,
30,000-square-foot winery situated in a three-tunnel cave.