Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/246577
GRAPEGROWING WINEMAK "we're control freaks. We want to do everything ourselves, from the vineyard to the case-goods storage." Bottles come from Demptos, capsules from Ramondin, corks from Scott Labs. The label design, with its allusion to the winery that never happened, came from Sugarman Design outside Sacramento, with printing by Elite Label. Case goods get held at a small temperature-controlled warehouse across town. Most of the 250 wine club members pick up wine at the winery, and winery staff sends the rest via Federal Express. Sales are overwhelmingly concentrated at the winery, through the wine club and tasting room, with a handful of local restaurant placements. Maier has been running a trial on distribution through Amazon.com, but the results are not yet in. Discussions are Jay Flachsbarth Winery owner Lisa Maier and winemaker Brent Amos toast the facility. under way with two supermarket chains. Distribution through the website, designed by former employee Justin Falco, currently covers only California, making compliance issues simple enough to handle in-house. The Livermore Valley has steadily sprouted new, small wineries for the past two decades. Many have been modest affairs opened by scientific folk from the nearby Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who thought a winery would be fun, or by home winemakers whose production got out of control, as it is wont to do. Las Positas has been put together on a different model, sparing no expense, worrying about details, controlling the process from end to end. Whether the venture can make great wine will take some time to decide; in the meantime, the facility they have put together seems very much up to the task. Win es & Vin es F EB Rua ry 20 14 55