Cuda Ridge Wines Acquired by Lemmon Family / Concannon – What does it mean?
Photo from Concannon Vineyards
Larry, Margie and daughter Megan with the purple Barracuda in front of the California Historical Landmark No.641 founded by James Concannon in 1883 on the Concannon Vineyard.
Cuda Ridge Wines was founded in 2007 by Larry and Margie Dino. They announced the move of Cuda Ridge Wines from Arroyo Road in Livermore moving August 1st to Concannon Vineyards and Winery at 4590 Tesla Road in Livermore and a few questions have been asked?
When entering Concannon Winery’s courtyard off to the right is Cuda Ridge Wines indoor tasting room. Photo from Larry Dino
First what will happen to Cuda Ridge Wines label. In a nutshell, nothing bad and only good will prevail. Cuda Ridge Wines will continue with their label and have a separate tasting room at Concannon. They also will have a designated area in the lawn pavilion, one side for Concannon wines and one for Cuda Ridge Wines.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Margie Dino has completed transforming a beautiful space at Concannon Winery to make a cozy, warm and friendly indoor tasting bar and room. Kevin Baskin, VP at Concannon, I know worked quickly and long hours in getting the room ready by August 1st.
Photo from Larry Dino
With Larry’s Cuda Ridge Wines being acquired by Lemmon Family/Concannon will he still be doing Bordeaux style wines? The simple answer is yes and even more wines are planned. Larry will continue to be the consulting winemaker for all his product portfolio as well as consult, if necessary, with Concannon’s winemaker Brett Fiske.
The benefits of being co-located with Concannon are immense:
- Concannon’s wine club members will now be able to taste Cuda Ridge Wines at the same location and vice-a-versa.
- Cuda Ridge Wines will be able to use Concannon’s state-of-the-art laboratory on site without sending it off to a lab.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
- Cuda Ridge Wines can leverage mobile bottling line production now and fully automated system down the road, increase barrel storage area, etc.
- Cuda Ridge Wines will also have access to many new winery machines such as a newly installed press that can handle up to 17 tons and cold storage of the juice automatically! This new press is not a typical bladder press but a wire mesh with the juice being captured and refrigerated immediately.
Photo from Larry Dino
- Cuda Ridge Wines will continue to be a small boutique and artisan winery producing wines of distinction and award-winning quality.
Photo from Larry Dino
- Cuda Ridge Wines will be able to leverage Concannon’s resources for marketing (Harrison Miller) and production personnel.
- Without going into a lot of detail in this story, but in a subsequent story, Concannon has a vision for what Concannon Winery will become and Cuda Ridge Wines will hop on the train with events, wedding venue, special events, etc.
- Concannon and Cuda Ridge Wines, as production grows, are in active discussion with distribution partners to increase their market presence.
If there was a picture of everything coming up roses, it would be a picture of Cuda Ridge Wines finding its new, creative and innovative home at Concannon Vineyards.
More on Concannon Vineyards vision and plans in an upcoming story.
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly