Goodbye Berkeley...

Windchaser Wine Co

After months of searching and bidding on multiple warehouses, I finally signed a lease on a new space in Richmond. That’s right, with only 18 days left before I had to be out of the 4th and Gilman space, I signed a lease on a new place. The new winery is located about 5 miles away from the old location, off of 580 on the Bay side. It is not near Riggers Loft or The Purity Wine collective tasting room. It is closer to East Brothers Brewery (which I was stoked to recently find) but still not really near them either. That’s all you get for now. Just a tease until I get a little further along with the move.

There’s still a lot of work to be done. Licenses must be transferred, new permits applied for, restrooms need to be built! Like I said on my Instagram story the other day, the place is still a blank canvas and I feel like I’ve got the right palette to make it work. The move is daunting but I’m treating it like just another challenge now and I can almost say at this stage, it’s exciting. This will be my third winery build out, not including any of the Crushpad moves. First was Dogpatch, then 4th St, now Richmond. As they say, third time’s the charm ;-)

I’ve been moving bins, boxes and pallets all month on my flatbed. I can only imagine what travelers on 580 must be thinking when they see me loaded with big shiny stainless steel winery equipment strapped next to fermentation bins full of old windsurfing equipment and A-frame signs exclaiming “Wine Tasting This Way!”

Today I moved the press and the forklift, which were the last two big things to go. I still need to make one more trip to the dump and pack up a few last things and that should be it. The new place is an organizational disaster. I was doing pretty well at first with making tactical decisions on what to put where and then I just started cramming things in wherever I could. Did I mention that we still need to install a 10x10 restroom? Yes, there is construction going on while I am moving in. It all reminds me of a Ziggy carton from when I was a kid. Ziggy is standing in the corner of his room with his dog (Fuzz!), paint brush in hand, painting the floor only to realize he had painted himself into a corner!

It’s still hard for me to see exactly what to do with the new place. Where to put the plugs for the steamer and the power washer. Same question for the press, elevator and destemmer. Floor drain, sinks, faucets for hoses? What to do with the weird entrance? How to take advantage of all the awesome outside space? Where to hang my prized Robby Naish sail and my picture of Anthony Bourdain? All very serious stuff.

I’ll figure it out. Keep my head up and “just power through” as my buddy Ian recently reminded me was all I need to do. Stay tuned to the Instagram page for updates on the progress and for when I’ll be back up and running.

Thank you for reading this and thanks for being involved in the Windchaser story. Whether you’ve visited the winery once, a dozen times or never. Whether we’ve met in person or not, whether you live locally or on the other side of the country, thank you for your support.

Happy New Year to you and your family. I’m looking forward to really exciting things in 2023.

Cheers,

Dave

PS, I couldn’t quite figure out how to weave a third version of palate into this update, but I hope that yours is coated in Windchaser wine this holiday season.