Vista, CA—January 19^th, 2012—The California Fruit Wine Company, a unique new winery in Vista that handcrafts wine from different fruits, is having a ribbon cutting party on Thursday January 19^th, to commemorate their new Wine-on-Tap system as well as the launch of their new weekly event programming. The winery was started two years ago by 25 year old twin brothers, Alan and Brian Haghighi, who had their grand opening at their new space last November. “When you open 10 or 20 bottles in a night, you start recognizing the unnecessary quantity of waste,” notes Alan, the head winemaker and director of on-site operations. “We’ve been eager to keg our wine for a while now, so this is an exciting moment for us.“

While most people don’t associate kegs with wine, the option has been around for years. Most wineries shy away from bulk packaging for fear that it cheapens the image of their wine. These brothers though, welcome the opportunity to be wine innovators . “We already have to deal with people’s misconceptions about fruit wine, that it is cheap and somehow substandard. The new tap system is just another way for people to discover how winemaking and serving is evolving and we want to be at the forefront of breaking wine stereotypes .” notes Brian, co-founder and VP of marketing.

In San Diego, select wine bars and a handful of daring restaurants have adopted wine-on-tap systems. But whether more establishments embrace the idea, kegs are an obvious choice for these young winemakers. “It just doesn’t make sense to bottle, cork, and label wine that you’ll be serving 20 feet away. Plus I think customers want the bulk non-packaged experience. They want the behind the scenes treatment,” explains Brian.

Kegged wine is the most eco-friendly way to package wine and it keeps the wine fresher for longer. It doesn’t have the waste that bottled wine does which includes corks, labels, hoods, and the bottles themselves. That’s on top of the lower carbon footprint because of lower transportation costs. So while the wine industry might be reserved in making these moves, kegs are the environmentally responsible future for bulk wine distribution.

In order to adopt kegged wine, a restaurant or other establishment needs to make a few modifications to their existing tap system. Unless it is sparkling, kegged wine requires nitrogen instead of CO2 which calls for a different tank, regulator, and various fittings. Also, wine requires a stainless steel faucet head because it is more acidic than most beers. “Despite the costs and the need to re-educate wine enthusiasts” notes Alan, “we are committed to embracing the future of wine-making.”

California Fruit Wine is located at 1040 La Mirada Ct, in the Vista business park. They are open for tastings hours on Thursday 4-6pm, Friday 3-6pm, and Saturday 2-5pm. They have regular event programming on Thursdays from 6-9pm and host different food trucks each Friday from 5-8pm. There wines include apricot wine, blackberry wine, plum wine, and chocolate covered strawberry wine. For more information go to www.californiafruitwine.com or call (858) 522-WINE.