Rack & Riddle Expands With Sonoma County Facility

NEWS RELEASE

HOPLAND, Calif., October 22, 2013—Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services, one of the largest custom crush and winemaking companies in the North Coast, and currently servicing more than 100 clients from its facility in Hopland, has announced it will be leasing 67,000 square feet of additional space in Sonoma County.

The expansion announced by Rack & Riddle will utilize space in Healdsburg and be primarily used to produce sparkling wine for a host of clients. “We are excited to be expanding into Sonoma County with a major segment of our operations,” said Rebecca Faust, co-owner of Rack & Riddle. “During the last few years our business has experienced growth of some 40 percent, and this allows us to realize a long desired hope to expand, bring on new clients, and have a significant presence in Sonoma County.”

Bruce Lundquist, co-owner, said, “Our operation is unique and trusted in the industry. Our expansion into Healdsburg, which is the first step in our expansion plan, gives us many more opportunities to serve our customers. Internally, it also represents a wonderful set of new opportunities for our employees. For example, we were pleased to recently announce that Mark Garaventa, vice president of business development, has been promoted to a new role in our company, that of general manager.”

The scope of the current Rack & Riddle operation in Hopland is significant. Currently, the company produces more than one million cases of sparkling and still wine each year on behalf of its clients. The expansion into Sonoma County will provide new and existing clients with additional custom services and importantly, geographic branding opportunities. “Many of our clients have been interested in being able to label their products as produced in Sonoma County. Obtaining a long-term lease in Healdsburg will facilitate our meeting those client requests,” said Faust.

Rack & Riddle expects to occupy the new site immediately. “We have the normal amount of work necessary to make the facility our own,” said Lundquist. “But, we expect to be operational as quickly as permits and licenses can be obtained. We look forward to providing the same high level of service and capability as is currently being offered by our Hopland facility.”

ABOUT RACK & RIDDLE CUSTOM WINE SERVICES:

From a 120,000-square-foot facility in Hopland, and a 67,000-square-foot facility in Healdsburg, Calif., Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services is proudly committed to providing pristine facilities where winemakers craft both still and sparkling wines. Rack & Riddle offers complete grape to bottle or base to bottle wine production services, and houses nearly 2 million gallons of stainless steel tank storage and fermentation vessels ranging from 500 to 100,000 gallons. An exceptional winemaking team produces more than one million cases of still and sparkling wine each year. Rack & Riddle also offers a shiners program for those looking to add sparkling wine to their portfolio. Rack & Riddle is a California Certified Organic and Demeter Biodynamic ® Certified winery. For more information, please visit www.rackandriddle.com.

SOURCE: Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services

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