Vino In My Dino

BW 113

October 2, 2014 15:26

You could say we inherited a piece of history when my grandparents purchased the property in Geyserville in 1927. We were the second family to own a winery and vineyard here. The first one, who were also Italian, applied and received the Bonded Winery number from the Federal Government.They made wine from 25 acres of grapes for their store in North Beach in San Francisco. Why do we need a number to produce wine? "Bonded winery licenses are issued by U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau for the purpose of designating a tax-paid environment for wine." (thanks to the Wine Institute for the verbiage) This means we pay tax on wine before it leaves the winery. The amount ranges between wine made under 14% alcohol where we pay $1.07 a gallon to wines over 14% but under 21% cost $1.57 a gallon. We make around 165,000 gallons of wine each vintage, to put this in perspective.

So how did we 'inherit' the original bonded winery number? When my grandfather purchased the property mid-Prohibition he bides his time selling grapes until Repeal in 1934. He set about making wine under his name and applied to the government for the original number. He received a letter, the framed version hangs in our tasting room, granting him the use of BW-113. The heritage of this place began with the Canata family and continues through four generations of Pedroncellis, 110 years of winegrowing.

Fun fact: by 2012 there were 3754 wineries in California and 8806 in the U.S. The year I was born, 1960, there were 256 wineries in California and 500 in all of the United States. The year my grandfather started his winery there were 3 wineries in Dry Creek Valley. All these numbers make me thirsty, I'm pouring some Vino in my Dino.

Bonded Winery 113

Tags: Pedroncelli, family business, California, Prohibition
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