Wine company uncorks first commercial vintage

Tony Izzo of Fairfield learned the art of wine making from his uncle at an early age, and the real estate professional went on to form Black Rock Vintners, a Bridgeport winery, with three friends later in life. The company, which started out as a small operation inside the cramped basement of one its founders, recently released its first commercially available vintage, consisting of 6,000 bottles of 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon.

"I've been making wine since 1979," Izzo said. "I grew up around relatives who made wine. I wanted to carry on the custom."

Izzo, who owns the real estate business AFI, Inc., first began making wine on a small scale with his friend and fellow Fairfield resident Richard Gibbons. They had met 25 years ago when Gibbons, a lawyer with the firm Wake, See, Dimes, Bryniczka, Day & Bloom, did legal work for Izzo. Gibbons describes Izzo as "the genesis of the group."

Izzo and Gibbons were later joined by Milford resident Bob Benoit, a banker specializing in small businesses for the Bank of Southern Connecticut. "I met Tony through my wife in 1989 or 1990," Benoit said. "We got to know each other, and periodically I'd hear about his wine-making." Gibbons and Benoit, who did not know each other at the time, later found out they were neighbors. The fourth member of the group, Dr. Cosmo Filiberto of Black Rock, works for the PriMed Family Practice in Bridgeport. Filiberto and Izzo met through their children. "Our kids went to Hunt Ridge Montessori School," Filiberto explained. "I met Bob and Rick Gibbons through Tony." Wine-making was also an important tradition in Filiberto's Italian family. "It was something that was part of both my grandfathers," he said. "I had some exposure to it as a real little kid, and I thought it was cool."

Celler dwellers no more
The group produced wine in Izzo's low-ceilinged basement for about 20 years. They now rent a 4,000-square-foot facility on Burr Court in Bridgeport.

Although they had produced wine together for over 20 years, Black Rock Vintners did not become a commercial business until 2003. "We had to pay the rent [for the new facility], so we started to sell wine," Gibbons explained. Filiberto said in order to become a business, they needed to secure ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms] licensing and trademarks. The process of securing the necessary permits and a trademark for the Black Rock Vintners name took about a year and a half, Izzo said. Timothy Topalian became involved with Black Rock Vintners about a year and a half ago. He is responsible for the "aesthetic part" of the business: design and brand work; maintaining the Web site; creating marketing materials, logos, and labels; and packaging.

The wine-making process is complex and time-consuming. It all starts with choosing the right grapes. According to Izzo, the group goes to California "once a year toward August" to taste different types of grapes and to choose the best ones.

For the past three years, the vintners have used grapes from the Handal Vineyard in California. The area has warm days and cool nights, which produce grapes that are suitable for making red wine. The grapes are picked at night and kept cool to prevent them from fermenting.

From grapes to wine
According to Izzo, "The first three weeks are a critical time. The character of the wine is set at the beginning, so we have to be on top of it."

First they crush the grapes, and then they pump the liquid into large metal kegs. They only fill the kegs to about 70 percent of capacity to allow room for the wine to expand during fermentation. Izzo said they crush about 10 tons of grapes per year. According to Benoit, "When you're making wine, during fermentation it runs hot from Saturday through Sunday of the following week. The wine needs attending for fermentation." (When they worked in Izzo's house, they "had a parade of people coming to the basement" during this important time period, according to Izzo.) Next, the liquid is kept cold for four to six days. Then the temperature is raised and yeast is added. The yeast and sugar from the grapes combine to create alcohol.

The wine is then pumped from the large metal kegs downstairs to a bottling machine upstairs. Approximately 600 to 700 bottles are filled, sealed, and corked per hour. A separate machine then puts labels on the bottles. Finally, the wine is put through an aging process. According to Topalian, "Getting from grapes to wine is a two-year process."

Growing sales
Thus far, Black Rock Vintners has sold most of its wine over the Internet. Although most sales have been local, the company has also shipped its wine as far as Seattle, Washington and Florida, according to Izzo. Most of their business is generated by networking and word-of-mouth.

In addition, they have decided recently to begin selling their wine to a small number of local establishments, such as the Black Rock Yacht Club and the Greenfield Liquor Store. "There might be a group of restaurants that would hopefully want to carry the wine," Izzo said.

While the vintners are pleased with the success of their red wine, they are thinking of expanding into other areas. "Our immediate plan is to increase the variety of things that we have available," Filiberto said, adding they are considering producing two types of white wine, as well as other reds.

Filiberto said, "We would like to do it like wine clubs in California," in which consumers purchase wine directly from producers. "This would avoid the cost of distribution so we don't have to raise prices," he explained. Despite talk of expansion, the vintners all agree on the size of their current business - and they plan to keep it small. "The advantage to being a small winery is that we can give more attention and care to each batch," Gibbons explained. "We see it as a small-time winery," Benoit said. "I don't think we're going to become a large winery."

And although they enjoy their business, the four friends do not want to give up their day jobs to produce wine full-time. "None of us are ready to give up our day jobs," Gibbons said. "I have no intention of leaving my daytime job," Benoit said. "It would be a nice dream, but it's not in the cards." "I'm a family physician 99 percent of the time," Filiberto agreed. "It's trying to balance a little bit of fun with work," Izzo said. "I'd like to stay where we are."

For more information, or to purchase wine, visit the company's Web site, www.blackrockvintners.com.