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Crushpad plans innovative visitor center for Sonoma

Crushpad, the custom winery and producer of commercial and private micro-production wines, announced this week that Strening Architects of Santa Rosa, will design an innovative 1,500 square foot "Visitor Center" adjacent to its new state-of-the-art winery facility in a renovated portion of the historic Sebastiani tasting room in Sonoma. Work will begin in July with a projected public opening of August 15.

 

Crushpad founder, Michael Brill, moved his operation from Napa to Sonoma in April, leasing a portion of Sebastiani's production facility and a portion of the winery's tasting room. When he announced his move, Brill described his vision for the visitor center as "wine tasting meets Exploratorium."
 

Crushpad has hundreds of winemaking clients; half of them at the "consumer" level, making (with Crushpad's assistance) a barrel of wine (about 25 cases). The other half of Brill's clients are small commercial operations that produce between 50 and 500 cases per year. These are the ones whose wine can be sampled once the new visitor center opens.
 

"The Crushpad Visitor Center will offer visitors an experience that combines education, science, art and wine in a very innovative and interesting way,” says Daniel Strening. “Our goal is to create a graceful and contemporary Visitor Center which combines Sebastiani’s sense of history with Crushpad’s youthful and innovative spirit. The result will be different from anything else in wine country.”
 

Strening said that the visitor center will serve three functions: a retail outlet for Crushpad’s 100-plus Commerce clients; a venue for Crushpad’s public events and educational seminars; and a setting where visitors can taste through Crushpad wines from over 50 of California’s top vineyards and 12 distinct varietals. A key element will be a series of “experience centers” featuring touch screen computers combined with intelligent wine dispensing technology, and rotating interactive videos highlighting the effects of climate, soil, winemaking, cooperage and character of a wine.

The visitor center will also have a traditional tasting bar operated by wine experts, as well as a private room for VIP tastings, blending sessions and classes, and private functions for clients and their customers.
 

For more information on Crushpad visit www.crushpadwine.com.