Wineries Moving Into Distillation

 If you can't beat 'em ...

Grain & Vine spirits
from Barton Family Wines
in Paso Robles CA

A few, but a growing number of wine businesses, are producing spirits and wine-based cocktails. Part of the reason is to gain another income stream as wine sales fall, corporations call it diversification. Consider it risk reduction for the wine conglomerates and maybe just trying to stay in business for smaller operations. 

Likewise, you may see more of them getting into zero/low alcohol wines. 

Wineries producing spirits are as diverse as family-owned Browne Family Vineyards in Washington State, the mighty Gallo, and billionaire Bill Foley, who now calls his empire Foley Family Wine & Spirits. 

Several have been making brandy, a grape-based spirit, for quite a while. Sonoma County's Korbel began shipping brandy in the 19th century. Besides Korbel, Gallo, Paul Masson, and Christian Brothers are large American brandy producers. Some of them, like Korbel, are moving into more premium brandies.

Korbel's fancy-pants aged brandies
image from korbel.com

St. Clair Brown Winery & Brewery offers flights of both in the city of Napa.

Grape-based RTDs (Ready To Drink) cocktails are another product that wineries can produce, maybe with help from an outside company to do the canning. The big ones like Gallo and Foley are there; some smaller wineries are looking into this. 

Large corporate wine companies often move into the spirits business through acquisition. The number of independently-owned wineries in the spirits business is small so far.