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Food & Beverage Industry

Wineries that brew: North American vintners have caught the microbrewing bug

Modern Brewery Age, March 22, 1999 by Greg Glaser

The wine guys are brewing. There may just be a handful of them, but the longstanding wine patrician vs. beer plebian rivalry finds no place with these fermenters. And it's often just that, the love of fermented beverages (no matter what they're made from), that's sparked this marriage of grapes and barley.

East of the Mississippi, three wineries have entered the beer business. In Westport, MA, Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery, winemakers since the early 1980s, opened Buzzards Bay Brewing last fall. The micro came into being when Bill Russell, son of the winery's founders, Bob and Carol Russell, expressed an interest in brewing. The younger Russell studied beermaking under the tutelage of Goose Gosselin, then the head brewer at Trinity Brewhouse in Providence, RI. Today, Russell manages the brewery and Gosselin brews Olde Buzzard Pale Ale, Golden Ale and Red Ale, distributed in bottles and on draft in the northeast.

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Further north in Massachusetts, in the town of Bolton, Nashoba Valley Winery & Orchard added "& Brewery" to their corporate name in 1997. The winery, established in 1979, opened a restaurant on the grounds in 1997 and, according to Nashoba's Richard Pellitier, the owners wanted to serve their own products in the restaurant. They decided that beer was a good addition. The four Nashoba beers are currently sold only on site, although that may change in 1999. They include Great Heron Pale Ale, Bolt 117 Lager, Nashoberfest Premium Wheat and Peach Wheat Beer.

Just north of the border in the GTA (that's Greater Toronto Area, of course) is the Magnotta Winery, the third largest winery in Ontario. Magnotta, which began operations in 1990, has 150 wines for sale, vineyards in Canada and Chili and five winemaking facilities. The winery opened the Magnotta Brewery in 1996. Co-owner Rosanna Magnotta said that she and her husband started the brewery because they wanted to expand their product line and become a one-stop shopping spot for their customers. The Magnotta's also produce a line of distilled spirits. Magnotta's beers, all sold under the True North label, are sold in Canada and China (American sales may come in the future) and include True North Light, Strong, Lager, Cream Ale, Alt and IPA.

A few years ago Clarke Romans, a homebrewer since the 1960s and an oil industry chemical engineer, was scouting the Tucson, AZ, area for a location to open a microbrewery. What he found, in Vail, just outside Tucson, was a winery for sale. The R.W. Webb Winery, founded in 1980, was a perfect place for a brewery according to Romans, so he bought the business and added Dark Mountain Brewery in 1997. The brewery produces six beers, available in bottles and on draft: a nut brown ale, a Kolsch, a prickly pear ale, an American pale ale, a barley wine and a porter.

California's first winery to open a brewery was Firestone Vineyards of Los Olivos, a winery dating back to 1972. The Firestone Walker Brewery brewed a nonalcoholic beer from 1987 to 1990. Adam Firestone and partner Rob Bruno re-opened the brewery in 1995, using a brewhouse and fermentation process modeled after the famous Burton Union system in England. The brewery's two beers, sold throughout California, are Double Barrel Ale and Windsor Pale Ale.

Two additional California wineries opened breweries in 1997. The Korbel Winery of Guerneville, in business since 1882 and famous for its champagne, wines and brandy, started Russian River Brewing. A deli opened on the Korbel property that same year, and the owners were looking for interesting products to sell. One of the Korbel winemakers, Randall Meyers, was a homebrewer and another, Vinnie Cilurzo was a former professional brewer. The decision to brew beer wasn't much of stretch with these two on the payroll. Russian River sells its four ales, Golden Wheat Ale, Pale Ale, Amber Ale and Porter, in bottles and on draft at the Korbel deli and at a few accounts in northern California. Korbel also grows some of its own hops for its beers.

The Benziger Family Winery of Glen Ellen, CA, founded in 1980, opened the state's second winery/brewery in 1997. Sonoma Mountain Brewery, an all-lager brewery, bought and shipped halfway across the world an entire 50-barrel German brewhouse. Benziger grew nine hop varieties on their land for use in their beers, and coined the phrase Estate Brewery to distinguish their product line. But as of April, Sonoma Mountain Brewery will cease operations as Benziger re-focuses on its core winemaking business.

International Wine & Spirits, a winemaking and importing company in Washington State known for its Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest wines, among others, took a different approach when entering the beer business. Instead of starting a brewery from scratch, they bought the successful Bert Grant's Real Ales of Yakima, WA, in 1995. The deal brought capital for brewery expansion to Grant's and added premium beer products to International Wine & Spirits' high-end wine lists.

Food & Beverage Industry

Wineries that brew: North American vintners have caught the microbrewing bug

Modern Brewery Age, March 22, 1999 by Greg Glaser

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