Crush Pad Wine

The other day my neighbor Ben and his sommelier friend were telling me about how they just bought a barrel of wine. He showed me the logo they designed and told me all about the "adopt a barrel" program through Crush Pad Wine. I got totally inspired to do it and think I am if I can get enough family and/or friends to go in with me. So, basically Crushpad is a custom winery located in San Francisco. They provide grapes from California's top vineyards, a winemaking team and a winery focused on small lots. You choose your level of involvement and they do the rest. You can even help de-stem, crush, ferment and press the wine into the barrel if you want to. Once it is in the barrel it ages for 8-24 months at which time you can occasionally taste or make blending decisions. Then you help design the label and ta da, 25 cases of your own wine! It's about $5,000 to $9,600 per barrel ($17 to $32 per bottle) for 300 bottles. How great would it to have your own house wine on hand at all times for dinner or as gifts or whatever. I am totally into this idea and even spent a little time trying to design a label on Microsoft Word. Check out the Crush Pad website for more info. And, if you're a family member or close friend of mine: don't even try and get out of this, it's happening.