WINEMAKING THOMAS GEORGE ESTATES
8075 Westside Road, Healdsburg, Calif. 95448 (707) 431-8031 • thomasgeorgeestates.com
WINERY AVA
Russian River Valley OWNERS
Baker Family
WINEMAKER Chris Russi
YEAR BONDED 1973 THE CHALLENGE
Complete renovation of an original 1920s hop kiln that formerly housed the David Bynum winery. Work included cutting in trench drains, sandblasting all interior and exterior surfaces and multiple applications of anti-microbial epoxy, installation of hot and cold glycol, gas and air. The Bakers also excavated an 8,000-square-foot cave, built two tasting areas and renovated four guest houses on the estate.
BUILDING THE WINERY MAKING THE WINE CONTRACTORS
Project Manage- ment
Stainless Steel
Refrig- eration
Cave
Tasting Area
WINERY
New drains, concrete flooring, cat- walks, roll-up doors, climate control
CAVE
8,000 total square feet, 6,500 square feet of barrel storage, remainder hospitality. Radiant flooring in the hospitality and tasting areas. Room for receptions and private tasting area.
WINERY TASTING ROOM Original Davis Bynum tasting room redone with all new services (HVAC) and surfaces, featuring a sugar pine and stained concrete countertop.
50 Wines & Vines FeBRUARY 2012 Ron Farino, rfarino1@comcast.net CC&M, ccmwelding.com
Plumbing LeDuc & Dexter Inc., ldplumb.com
Redwood Refrigeration, redwoodrefrig.com
Electrical Bowman Electric Inc., bowmanelectricinc.com
Baccus Caves, bacchuscaves.com
R&K Construction, rkcon- struction@sbcglobal.net; Karma Dog Construction, karmadogconstruction.com
VINEYARD MANAGEMENT Valdez & Sons, (707) 894-3710
PROCESSING Reds: Vega 10 with crusher removed, Carlsen & Associates, carlsenassociates.com; conveyors and shaker tables by P&L Speci- alities, pnlspecialties.com, and transfer to tank by Waukesha pump; Whites: Loaded directly to Puleo bladder press SF36
TANKS
Six 5-ton open-top tanks; two 3-ton open- top tanks; 19 closed-top fermentors (300- 3,000 gallons), The Belli Corp. (dba Westec Tank & Equipment), westectank.com; four concrete eggs, Sonoma Cast Stone, sono- mastone.com; three pneumatic punch- down devices for open-top tanks built by R.S. Randall and Co., rsrandallandco.com
LABORATORY SERVICES Enartis Vinquiry, enartisvinquiry.com
BARRELS
Leroi, leroibarrels.com; Tonnellerie Remond, (707) 935-2176; François Frères and Taransaud, Mel Knox Barrel Broker, knoxbarrels.com; Tonnellerie Quintes- sence, tonnelleriequintessence.com; Damy, Bouchard Cooperages, bouchard- cooperages.com; Tonnellerie Cadus, ton- nelleriecadus.com; Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage, seguinmoreaunapa.com; Tonnellerie Ô, tonnellerieo.com
VINEYARD ACREAGE
63.5 DTC SALES 65%
TECHNICAL REVIEW
Average Winery Case Production 8,000
THOMAS GEORGE ESTATES 38,000 SONOMA COUNTY 79,000 CALIFORNIA 43,000 U.S.
$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$$
$33 SONOMA COUNTY $37 CALIFORNIA $27 U.S. Bottle prices averaged across
categories, based on one price per winery. Source: WinesVinesDATA
MOVING THE WINE BOTTLING
Filtration Plate and frame when needed
Bottling Line
Select Mobile Bottlers Inc., selectmobilebottlers.com
PACKAGING Bottles
Label Design
Label Printing
Demptos Glass, demptos.com Coy Design, coydesign.com
Landmark Label Manufac- turing, landmarklabel.com
Closures MA Silva USA, masilva.com
Capsules Ramondin USA, ramondin.com
SALES & DISTRIBUTION Wine Club Two clubs, 600 members
Shipping Wine Country Shipping, winecountryshipping.com
Case Goods Storage
Distribu- tion
SERVICES
Inventory Manage- ment
Banking
In-house, VinNOW by Update Software, vinnow.com
Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division, svb.com
Alexander Valley Cellars, alexandervalleycellars.com
AZ, CA, CO, DC, GA, MN, MT, NY, VA, Alberta, British Co- lumbia, Manitoba, Ontario
Average Winery Bottle Price $45
THOMAS GEORGE ESTATES $= $10
= 10,000 cases/yr
