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WI n EM ak I n G "You treat the wine as if it's going into a screwcapped bottle. Make sure it doesn't need any oxygen to finish." pedigree," he notes. "If we did it, I wanted to have great value and over deliver." He didn't want wines that were also available by the bottle but did want recognized producers. Hulihan acknowl- edges that Fish Story may someday get some less-well-known wines. He actually drove the kegs around initially to have them filled. "We started with old Coke and Pepsi canisters, but there were some leakage problems. Now we use a standard beer fitting, and people can wash and clean them properly." He says the biggest issue is logistics. "Some deliver, and some I go get." Fish Story sells the wines by the glass, half-liter and liter, giving a bit more bang for the customer's buck. They rinse out the tap quickly by letting it run a second before filling glasses or carafes. —Chimney Rock winemaker Elizabeth Vianna Hulihan has a few warnings: "You have to use 304 stainless steel, not brass. And the lines are critical, they're being im- proved dramatically. You also have to taste the wine regularly." They put the wine on a 40-day watch but have never gotten near that point, as the wines sell quickly. He is especially enthusiastic about hav- ing local wines, and he suggests people in the east look into that angle. Words from winemakers Chimney Rock Winery supplied some Fiano to Oxbow Wine Merchant in kegs. Doug Fletcher, director of winemak- ing for the Terlato Group, which owns Chimney Rock, says he saw the wine on tap there and asked Peter Granoff is he could supply him wine. Fletcher says they sold two kegs, then moved on to a keg or two of Rutherford Hill Winery Sauvignon Blanc. Chimney Rock winemaker Elizabeth Vianna says that the Fiano, which comes from a small plot on the property, is not aged and it isn't filtered. Though she does cold stabilize it before filling the keg. "It doesn't tend to get reductive," she notes. "You treat the wine as if it's going into a screwcapped bottle. Make sure it doesn't need any oxygen to finish." She adds that the winery uses the Fiano as a team-building effort. The grapes are picked and made into wine by the tasting room manager and cellar crew. Chris Dearden, who now has his own consulting and wine company, says he filled keg wines at his former employer, Be- nessere, for Michael Fradelizio at Silverado Brewery Co., who was one of the first to adopt the idea, and for a few others. "I love the idea and the exposure, and now wineries can actually sell the wine directly for a decent amount," he says ($50 per gallon in some cases). "When I was doing it for Silverado, it was for $20 per gallon and was more of a favor and a way to move some of our bulk wine." Dearden says that in this economy, creative ways of selling wine are posi- 38 Wines & Vines MARCH 201 1