Cellar Craft Cellar Craft SOLD

[Tom]

Cellar Craft Purchased by Vineco
By Brant Burgiss
In case you haven't heard, Vineco recently bought out Cellar Craft.
The good news is that the great wine kits you've come to appreciate will
still be offered, but there will be a transitional period when some kits are
not available due to either a lack of raw material or the time needed to
move their wine kit production machinery from the west coast of Canada to
Ontario. There will be some product delays while the machinery is set up
and the kits are transported to the manufacturer's warehouse in St.


Catharines, Ontario.

 

[uavwmn]

 

[cpfan]

That smilie means 'confused'. So what are you confused about?


The sale happened at the end of October, and the world hasn't ended yet.


Steve

 

[rhoffart]

 

[ibglowin]

Even though that may say confused to me it appears more "perplexed" and thats exactly how I feel about the sale. I don't see anything good coming out of this.
They have closed the plant and moved it all the way to the east coast so its not close at all to WA state the source of of most of the juice they used and the reason I bought so many Showcase series kits over the past 2 years. If they drop WA state as the source of their juice I will be dropping Cellar Craft as a source for kits.

That smilie means 'confused'. So what are you confused about?


The sale happened at the end of October, and the world hasn't ended yet.


Steve

 

[Wade E]

Freakin sell outs! Pretty much just Mosti who is still that little company!

 

[cpfan]

Freakin sell outs! Pretty much just Mosti who is still that little company!

Cellar Craft was owned by Nestle. Pretty sure that Global Vintners is much smaller than Nestle. But I get what you mean.


Steve

 

[Wade E]

Really, Nestle??? Wow, would have never thought!

 

[cpfan]

Perplexed?Here's how I understand it....A non-wine conglomerate (Nestle) wanted to close the BC plant and move their operations to Ontario. But probably didn't want to move the wine kit stuff. So it was sold (fairly quickly, it sounds like) to a wine conglomerate (Andrew Peller's Global Vintners Division). Just like many companies sell off unwanted assets. I'm just glad that it wasn't closed down, and that the buyer isa respected (at least by me) kit company. In some ways, I wish that Constellation Brands had bought Cellar Craft. CB owns Vincor which owns RJ Spagnols. This would have evened the ownership in the industry a little, and RJS is a BC based company.


BTW, here's one of my comments from Dec 1st on another forum

The product manufacturing is being moved from BC to Ontario (equivalent to Seattle WA to Buffalo NY). I doubt that all the staff will be moving. Will the kit formulation and grape sourcing people be moving? That may be the important question. My biggest concern is that Cellar Craft seemed to have excellent sources for Washington and Oregon grapes. Will that continue?

Actually the grape sourcing people don't have to move to Ontario. They could move into the offices of Global Vintner's BC based operation (ie Winexpert). Unfortunately, only time will tell how it will turn out. Let's check back in 2 years.

Steve

 

[cpfan]

Really, Nestle??? Wow, would have never thought!

The following is my understanding....Cellar Craft was owned by acompanyin BC who's main business was juicing fruit from BC and possibly Washington. They had a sideline called Cellar Craft. Nestle bought them for their core business not Cellar Craft.


Sorry I couldn't find the name of that company.


Steve

 

[Wade E]

Huh, good info as usual Steve!

 

[uavwmn]

Steve, see Mikes thread below. It wasn't a confused face, it was a depressed face. More like this:

Kathie


PS. Mike, I totally agree with you. CC was my favorite "go to" kit.

 

[uavwmn]

Mike, I agree with you. If they do not use the source of grapes from WA (the reason I bought CC kits), then I will have to reconsider my kit purchases.

I guess we will wait and see........


Kathie

 

[cpfan]

One of my family's favourite wines that I have made was a Washington State Merlot. It was also loved by several of the customers in the store that I ran. Unfortunately it was a limited edition kit.


Brand? Vineco's Ken Ridge Classic (10 litre). No grape skins.


Yes, the same folks who will now be responsible for the Cellar Craft kits.


I have high hopes for Cellar Craft's future, but only time will tell.


Steve

 

[Wade E]

Well thats a good sign.

 

[Dean]

Really, Nestle??? Wow, would have never thought!

The following is my understanding....Cellar Craft was owned by acompanyin BC who's main business was juicing fruit from BC and possibly Washington. They had a sideline called Cellar Craft. Nestle bought them for their core business not Cellar Craft.


Sorry I couldn't find the name of that company.


Steve

Vitality Foodservice Canada. That's who Nestle bought, and CC was part of Vitality. It's sad to see them leave the province. I'm not sure they will continue to source those grapes, but possibly RJS could get a few really good employees out of the move, as well as Winexpert.

 

[cpfan]

Vitality Foodservice Canada. That's who Nestle bought, and CC was part of Vitality. It's sad to see them leave the province. I'm not sure they will continue to source those grapes, but possibly RJS could get a few really good employees out of the move, as well as Winexpert.

You're probably right Dean, but I thought Vitality was the Nestle Division that bought the BC company.


Re sourcing grapes....it's a world-wide economy. Vineco is based in Ontario but doesn't source much from Ontario, and none from New York. BTW, they did a couple of Ontario kits once, but they weren't popular.


Since WE's owners bought Cellar Craft, maybe WE will get a few of the employees. I read that Christine (the Cellar Craft salesperson) is now a wet coast Vineco salesperson.


Steve