Rock & Riddle Opens New Charmat-Style Production Facility

The 85,000-square-foot Virginia Dare East production facility in Healdsburg was opened by Rock & Riddle Wine Services to produce Charmat-style sparkling wine.

Currently, Charmat-style sparkling wine runs on average 30 to 45 days to produce, and the facility can accommodate run sizes of 2,500 and 5,100 cases, with more than 46,000 gallons under secondary fermentation at once. Rack & Riddle said it plans to expand capacity in 2024, once operations are running smoothly.

Bottling will be completed on a new Bertolaso Monobloc, which can fill 105 Charmat bottles per minute (160 bpm for still wines) in 375ml, 750 ml and 1.5L sizes, with an automatic bottle warmer and dryer for label application. The line also includes a Logiclosure camera visual inspection system.

Up to 200 cans per minute can be filled on the CFT canning line, with liquid dosing of N2 for still wines and CO2 for sparkling. A similar visual inspection system is used on 187 ml, 250 ml, and 375 ml can sizes.