Bundschu family opens Sonoma Valley custom wineries

Sonoma-based Bundschu Company has a launched a custom-crush business in time for this year’s harvest.

Towle Wine Company is based at 777 Madrone Road in Glen Ellen. The 19,000-square-foot facility is located on the same property as Abbot’s Passage, a Bundschu Company winery that opened last year. It features two production environments and is overseen by Towle Merritt, a sixth-generation vintner and chief operating officer of Bundschu Company.

“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,” stated 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.”

In addition, Towle Wine recently signed a lease on an additional facility in the Sonoma Valley to expand its custom winemaking services beyond its 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 this year’s harvest.

Altogether, Towle Wine can crush more than 3,500 tons of grapes and store over 860,000 gallons of wine in 120 stainless-steel tanks. The cellars can house 2,000 barrels. The operation has two 10,000-square-foot fermentation cellars, a 7,000-square-foot bottling facility that can handle 2,000 cases daily, and a 2,000-square-foot microwinery.