Wine startup takes tips from beer world

Excerpted from the online Fog City Journal:

The MAS Wine Co., which brews its red and white wines MAS Vino and MAS Vino Blanco at the Jepson Winery in Hopland, CA, is seeking to spread the word about its unusual products.

MAS distributes nearly all its wines in something near and dear to the beer brewers' and lovers' hearts -- stainless steel kegs, a far cry from cork and bottle and screw tops in the wine domain. ...

"Through our colleagues in the beer industry, we've placed our red and white kegs in stores and restaurants in all of the Bay Area's nine counties, Eureka, Mendocino and Sacramento County. We're off to a great start," said MAS President Andy Woehl.

MAS is an 18-month-old startup with officers and investors based in San Francisco, Sacramento and Sonoma County. The company has a Web site and a mailing address in Cloverdale where its winemaker and production chief live.

"No bricks and mortar. Just wine," Woehl says.

The company's airtight, 15-liter kegs hold 20 bottles of wine and keep wine fresh for 60 days. The company is also introducing 11-liter kegs that hold 15 bottles of wine. The kegs are manufactured in Germany and reduce energy consumption and waste associated with packaging, delivering and storing glass bottles. The kegs are delivered in a just-in-time distribution system. The wines are blended with grapes grown in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

"We went to the beer industry because they are the people who know all there is to know about selling beverages in kegs to a large customer base," Woehl said.

The company's main product is wine by the glass from kegs directed at a target audience of young professionals 25-40 years old who are educated, interested in wine and eat out several times a week. The kegs are at two-dozen restaurants, hotels and other eating and drinking establishments in the Bay Area.

To Dowd's Spirits Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Wine Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Brews Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Non-Alcohol Drinks Notebook latest entry.
To Dowd's Tasting Notes latest entry.
Back to Dowd On Drinks home page.