I started working full time at Clos LaChance in 1999. I had a desk in our cold, dark rental cellar at the Novitiate in
In 2002, we moved to the winery in San Martin. The offices here are a small version of paradise compared to our old digs. Heat, light, running water...you know the basics.
I have certainly gotten comfortable in these offices over the last 5 years. The desks have gradually filled up with staff to manage our continuously growing business. In the long, tedious but fun, management meetings, one of the major topics of discussion is the detailed and complex bottling schedule. With all the Clos LaChance products we have (just over 20) and the Private Label Program products (another 20 or so)...that's a lot of coordination.
Since the inception of Clos LaChance, the bottling of our products has been handled by a number of contracted mobile bottling lines. A big truck comes in, hooks up to the tanks and starts cranking out the finished products. Making sure all the supplies (labels, corks, bottles, capsules, boxes, box stickers, pallets) are here and ready to go on the date the bottling truck arrives is always a challenge, as well as sticking to the tight schedule. Inevitably a supplier misses a delivery date or it takes longer to change up the tanks.
Whenever we discussed purchasing a bottling line for the winery, we always brushed the idea aside. Bottling lines were something that "big" wineries had. I wouldn't consider us big (although we are producing 80,000 cases this year)...but Clos LaChance is now the proud owner of a bottling line! It was finally the right time...we are bottling enough wine to make it cost efficent. Plus we need the flexibility with all our products and potential new business coming down the pipeline.
We purchased a mobile unit from Mission Bottling and officially took possession on October 1. Why a mobile line? Two reasons:
1. We have no room for a permanent line inside the winery. If we could build this place all over again, we would add more a lot more room for storage. But it is what it is, and the room we thought could work for bottling s filled with wine and other materials.
2. We figured when the line is not in use here at the winery, we can hire it out to other small wineries that need bottling services. Bay Area Bottling Services is born! A link to the press release about our new business: http://www.live-pr.com/en/clos-lachance-winery-launches-bay-area-r1048165463.htm
Heat, light, water and a bottling line. Clos LaChance has truly arrived.
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