Multigenerational Family Business Expands Sonoma Footprint, Extending Owner-Operated Properties and Onsite Winemaking in Sonoma Valley
SONOMA, CA (September 8, 2021)—The Bundschu Company announces the launch of Towle Wine Company (TWC), a new custom crush and wine services company based in the heart of Sonoma Valley. From soil to cellar, Towle Wine Company offers a variety of custom winemaking services to business customers, including vineyard management, grape processing, and pressing, fermentation, aging, and bottling. As 2021’s harvest kicks off, the launch of TWC reinforces the Bundschu Company’s longstanding commitment to Sonoma Valley while also strategically increasing and diversifying the family’s curated portfolio of businesses.
The 19,000 square foot facility is located on the same property as Abbot’s Passage, a Bundschu Company winery that opened in 2020. It features two production environments and expansive bottling capacity and is overseen by Towle Merritt, sixth-generation vintner and Chief Operating Officer of Bundschu Company. The facilities are led by an elite winemaking and cellar team with deep experience in high-quality wine production across a variety of price points.
In addition, TWC recently signed a lease on an additional facility in the Sonoma Valley to expand their custom crush winemaking services beyond their home in Glen Ellen. The facility, which is located at 14335 Sonoma Highway in Glen Ellen, began processing and producing wine with the start of the 2021 harvest.
“As multigenerational vintners, we are acutely aware of our responsibility to invest in our local industry in a way that we have never done before. Sonoma has been our home for more than 160 years, and we want to contribute to the future of our family business and others here for generations to come. With so many local companies centralizing and relocating to places much farther away, we saw the opportunity to create an innovative, and diverse wine company that is committed to quality, transparency, sustainability, and value,” says President and CEO of Bundschu Company, Jeff Bundschu. Bundschu leads all TWC client branding, harnessing his years of experience creating brands and visuals at the intersection of style, culture and meaning.
“We’re excited to utilize our extensive wealth of knowledge and expertise to help build brands and cultivate new ones, with customers who share our passion and values,” says Merritt. “We prosper by sharing our unique culture, land, wines and experiences that have been cultivated over six generations working the same land in the same industry.”
The TWC facility, located at 777 Madrone Road, has a 2,000-plus ton capacity, 500,000+ gallons storage (10,000 square foot fermentation cellar, 7,000 square foot bottling facility, 2,000 square foot micro-winery, 60 stainless steel tanks), a 2,000 barrel wine storage, and a 2,000 case-per-day bottling line.
About Towle Wine Company:
Towle Wine Company is a next-generation wine company located in the Sonoma Valley. TWC works directly with retail and business customers to create meaningful wines to drive profits and engagement. The team specializes in providing premium wine production services to wineries, negociants, and private/control labels, by hiring top quality staff and utilizing forward-thinking technologies. With 160 years of multigenerational family winemaking experience, Towle Wine Company is a leader in creating wines from California’s best appellations. For more information, visit www.towlewineco.com.
About Bundschu Company:
For six generations, Sonoma’s family-owned Bundschu Company has been producing quality wine and creating dynamic experiences. Since 1858, the company has operated with wine at the center of everything they do, but has also embodied the belief that quality wine need not be divided from experience, but that one enhances–and connects–the other. Since then, the multigenerational company has deliberately grown a curated portfolio of wineries and brands that each uniquely embody that spirit, including Gundlach Bundschu, Abbot’s Passage, Towle Wine Company, and Huichica Music Festival. While the Bundschu Company honors the family’s legacy, they quest for the future by cultivating a diverse business at the intersection of top tier wine and experiences, investing in innovation and sustainable practices, and championing the next generation of diverse leaders. For more information, please visit www.bundschu.com
