Produced and Bottled at
Holman Cellars
Starting a wine label from the ground up is a challenging feat that requires special permits and licensing, a facility with specialized wine making equipment, a fully functional viticulture lab, etc. None of which is necessarily cheap, which is why there is an old saying we all know too well in the wine world and it goes like: "In order to make a small fortune in the wine business, you need to start off with a large fortune."
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Those words are painfully true and it is why the majority of the wines most people drink, are all made by only a handful of massive conglomerate wine companies with huge pockets and endless resources at their disposal. So how does an upstart, cost conscious up and coming young winemaker even begin to tackle such an endeavor? We Custom Crush!
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Custom Crush facilities are wineries that bring in other winemakers as clients in order to share the burden and costs of maintaining and operating. Each custom crush winery usually has a roster of different winemakers who all work on their own projects and labels independently, but all under the same roof or facility in order to share resources, equipment, tank space, heavy assets, etc. It's also a great place to bounce ideas, learn new techniques and build comradery and community among fellow winemakers.
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Holman Cellars is owned and operated by Jason Holman, he is an owner and partner at the Rebel Vintners tasting room in Downtown Napa as well as the winemaker and owner of his two labels: Uncharted Wines and High Sierra Wine Co. He is a wealth of knowledge and a great friend. I officially joined Holman Cellars' client roster in 2019 and there is no way I could have gotten this far with my Identity Wine Co. wines this quickly without Jason's guidance and enthusiasm for teaching and helping small winemakers have a solid foundation for which to grow. We are a tight knit crew at Holman Cellars with a small roster of brilliant winemakers who all pitch in and help each-other out during harvest as well as throughout the entire year.
Holman Cellars is a dynamic facility that has fruit processing capabilities, a custom in-house bottling line, a dedicated fermentation and tank room as well as an expansive barrel room for aging and cellaring all under one roof. It is located in an industrial warehouse park just a mere couple of minutes south of Downtown Napa. Making my wines here is a surreal and amazing experience since there are other dedicated custom crush facilities, barrel cooperages, tasting rooms and wine logistics warehouses directly adjacent to us and all around us. It's a bustling beehive of winemaking activity with a who's who roster of influential winemakers, somms, wine writers and industry professionals coming in and out at any time. You never know which Napa Valley legend you might bump into at the bar or even pops in to your tank room to share wine samples with you on any given day.
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For more info on Jason Holman, his Uncharted wines and Holman Cellars; feel free to check him out at:
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