Wines & Vines

22 WINES&VINES February 2018 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS winemaker at Wedding Oak Winery in San Saba, Texas. Urbanek, a Texas native, will be responsi- ble for cellar management and assisting with all aspects of production while working with head winemaker and viticulturist Penny Adams and her winemaking team. Urbanek has worked in wine production at wineries New York, Australia and France, where he first gained an interest in wine while studying abroad for an undergradu- ate degree in international relations. After gradu- ating from Texas A&M University, Urbanek was commissioned as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served two tours in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Bronze Star and concluded his service as a captain at Fort Drum, N.Y. Carlson Creek breaks ground on new winery Nearing a decade in business, Carlson Creek Vineyard broke ground on a new winery and event space at its 280-acre estate vineyard in Willcox, Ariz. The family-owned company is building a 12,000-square-foot winery that will include a tasting room, wine library, demon- stration kitchen, indoor event space and office space. The facility also will be used for all wine- making and barrel storage and is expected to be ready in June 2018. EAST Brock secures grant for new wine lab The Ontario government awarded Brock Uni- versity nearly $1 million (Canadian) to help fund an augmented reality, virtual reality and sensory consumer wine laboratory. The new funding matches a grant from the Canadian government and, with other financial support from the province's wine industry, will enable Brock's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute to launch the new $2.4 million lab, which will be known as the R 3 CL. The lab will use virtual and augmented reality to create a variety of environments in which people pur- chase and consume wine. Researchers will use the lab to study how sights, sounds, smells and other factors influence consumers' impres- sions and choice of wines. Funding will also be used to expand the institute's research winery as well as purchase analytical instruments for wine and grape analysis. SUPPLIER Cork Supply expands buy-back guarantee Portuguese cork producer Cork Supply ex- tended its "bottle buy back" guarantee to in- clude the company's Vinc technical corks. Vinc is the company's newest closure guaranteed free of discernable TCA contamination and is produced in Cork Supply's new factory that opened in 2016. Customers receiving a cork taint claim will be required to return the bottle and cork to the Cork Supply laboratory for in- spection. The cork and wine will be tested and, if cork-derived taint is discovered, Cork Supply will reimburse the winery for the retail release price of the wine. The company's U.S. subsid- iary Cork Supply USA is based in Benicia, Calif. Sparflex buys Maverick The French company Sparflex Group acquired capsule producer Maverick Enterprises. Sparflex already owns Rivercap USA. Maverick was founded in 1992 and is based in Ukiah, Calif. The team at Maverick will continue man- agement of the Ukiah facility with the support of Sparflex and its subsidiaries. Sparflex is based in Epernay, France, and boasts annual sales of $120 million and maintains production facilities in France, Spain, Australia and the United States. SGP now Verallia USA Glass supplier SGP Packaging announced it changed its name to Verallia USA. The company also announced the launch of World Collec- tion of glass from its Selective Line and the Ebano Collection from Chile. Verallia is a global manufacturer of glass packaging for food and beverages and produced 16 billion glass bottles and jars in 2016. The company owns manufac- turing facilities in 13 countries and sales offices in 46 nations with five technical centers and 13 product-development centers. The company generated $2.7 billion in total sales in 2016. Wine Woot founders launch Casemates Following Amazon's decision to shutter its wine businesses after acquiring Whole Foods, the founders of Wine Woot launched a new com- pany on Kickstarter called Casemates. Wine Woot was founded by Matt Rutledge and oper- ated through a partnership with Sonoma, Calif.- based Wine Country Connect, led by David Studdert. Wine Woot was purchased by Ama- zon in 2010, and with Amazon ending online wine sales for the time being, Studdert and Rut- ledge launched Casemates on Kickstarter. With an initial goal of $50,000, the campaign has already earned more than twice that amount. Casemates will offer wine deals three times per week and enable consumers to share full case orders to secure even better prices. New name, cooperage for TN Coopers The Chilean cooperage that sold barrels under the Toneleria Nacional and Mistral Barrels brands has changed its name to TN Coopers. The name change comes as the company also recently completed a new cooperage in the Casablanca Valley of Chile. The company claims its new cooperage represents one of the larg- est investments in the Chilean wine industry in recent years. TN Coopers operates in the United States from an office in Sonoma, Calif. New partner at Gaw Van Male Law firm Gaw Van Male announced Marc Hauser had joined the firm's office in Napa, Calif., as a partner in the wine and business law departments. Hauser has 20 years of experi- ence in corporate and real estate law. Prior to joining Gaw Van Male, Hauser spent 15 years as in-house counsel to Equity Group Investments in Chicago, the private-investment firm and fam- ily office of billionaire investor Sam Zell. New sales VP for Agrothermal Patrick Baker is the new vice president of North American sales for Agrothermal Systems in Napa, Calif. Baker owns a vineyard in the Carneros AVA, and before joining Agrothermal he was the general manager of the winery soft- ware supplier Vintrace. CORRECTION An article in the January 2018 issue described Ali Mayfield as "former Long Shadows wine- maker." Early in her career, Mayfield worked not as a winemaker but as an enologist at Long Shadows under winemaker Gilles Nicault. Robert (from left), Bob, Elizabeth and John Carlson break ground on their new winery facility.

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