SONOMA COUNTY, Calif., December 17, 2013—Rack & Riddle Custom Wine Services, one of the largest custom crush and winemaking companies on the North Coast, announced today it has signed a lease agreement for the Murphy Family Winery, located in Alexander Valley just south of Geyserville. Rack & Riddle will assume responsibility for all operations at the facility on January 1, 2014. The announcement follows months of negotiations between the Murphy Family and the two partners of Rack & Riddle—Rebecca Faust and Bruce Lundquist.
Jim Murphy, along with brothers T.J., Denny, and sister Patty, were very pleased to have found Rack & Riddle as a tenant. “We placed a high premium on finding a tenant that would uphold the many expectations we have in the use of our winery”, said Jim Murphy. “We believe Rack & Riddle will provide excellent service to our existing clients, and will do so while maintaining and enhancing what our family has established here in Alexander Valley.” Equally excited and pleased was Rack & Riddle. “The Murphy Family has been great throughout our negotiations,” said Rebecca Faust, co-owner of Rack & Riddle. “They have built a legacy here on Highway 128, and we intend to honor their family by making this winery a premier site for winemakers and winemaking.”
The deal announced today adds significantly to the capabilities of Rack & Riddle in servicing clients particularly from both Sonoma and Mendocino counties. With the lease of the Murphy Winery containing 50,000 square feet of space, combined with the October lease of 67,000 feet of space in Healdsburg, Rack & Riddle has expanded its presence in Sonoma County in just two months to some 117,000 total square feet.
The expansion poises Rack & Riddle to become one of the largest custom crush facilities specializing in sparkling wine in California. Rack & Riddle anticipates significant growth and increased production through the addition of multiple bottling lines. “The expansion to Sonoma County has been a major effort, but a very successful one,” said Faust. “We have long felt that having a Sonoma County presence was an important part of our strategic business plan and will give our clients additional crush and winemaking options that we otherwise would be unable to provide from our current Hopland location.”
To aid in the transition as Rack & Riddle expands to the facility, Murphy Family Winery owners Jim and T.J. Murphy will continue on at the location as consultants to Rack & Riddle.
The lease of the well-known Murphy Winery is an opportunity for Rack & Riddle to further add needed space for a burgeoning operation that serves well over 100 clients. “The operational plan for us is simple,” says Bruce Lundquist, co-owner of Rack & Riddle. “We are committed to providing facilities in Sonoma County where both still and sparkling wines can be crafted by the superb winemaking talent we know as our clients. To be able to offer our clients additional choices is a dream come true.”
Lundquist said, “Rack & Riddle’s expansion first into Healdsburg and now with the Murphy Family Winery, should provide the needed space for our operations, that currently produces more than a million cases of sparkling and still wine each year on behalf of our clients.”
ABOUT RACK & RIDDLE CUSTOM WINE SERVICES:
From a 120,000-square-foot facility in Hopland, a 67,000-square-foot facility in Healdsburg, and a 50,000 square-foot facility in Geyserville, 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
