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Flextank Provides Winery Conference Attendees With Methods to Cut Costs and Increase Margins and Revenue
Flextank Provides Winery Conference Attendees with Methods to Cut Costs and Increase Margins and Revenue
April 1, 2025 - Flextank, the leader in advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks for wine, cider, spirits, and craft beverage fermentation and storage, successfully presented innovative ways for wineries to reduce operational expenses (OpEx), expand production, increase efficiency, and improve revenue and margins at the WiVi Central Coast Conference & Tradeshow, held on March 13 in Paso Robles. At Booth #227, Flextank’s team of winemaking experts engaged with winery professionals, demonstrating how Flextank solutions can help lower costs and enhance productivity.
“For more than two decades, blind taste trials have confirmed that there is no difference in the quality or oak profile of wines produced in a Flextank compared to a traditional oak barrel,” said Flextank CEO, Jonathan Smalley. “Winemakers using Flextanks enjoy the benefit of producing award-winning wines at a fraction of the cost of using traditional oak barrels. With today’s economic pressures on the wine industry, it’s time to rediscover a proven, more sustainable technology that creates quality wines.”
During the event, Flextank provided free online tools, expert guidance, and consultation tips to help winery operators reduce OpEx overhead and increase productivity, sustainability, and margins. These tools assist winery CFOs and winemakers in:
Estimating real-time winery production, OpEx costs, and potential revenue.
Assessing Flextank and barrel requirements by gallons or liters.
Reducing overhead and OpEx costs while expanding capacity and production efficiency.
Developing custom, durable long-term production and storage solutions.
Winery professionals were able to access the Real-Time Flextank Revenue + Operational Expense Calculator at the WiVi Booth #227, as well as online. Users could send their results directly to their email via the interactive calculator. Additionally, attendees obtained free downloadable checklists and content designed to help their wineries increase productivity and revenue.
About WiVi Central Coast Conference & Tradeshow
The conference and tradeshow featured sessions by top industry leaders on regional viticulture, enology, and DTC topics, providing attendees with insights into new trends and technology. For more information, visit: https://wivicentralcoast.com/.
About Flextank
Flextank’s advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks and hoppers are the leading wine, cider, spirits, and craft beverage fermentation and storage solutions available worldwide. Flextanks help beverage makers achieve affordable, efficient production. More than 5,000 wineries, cideries, and craft beverage production operations worldwide rely on Flextank for efficient, controllable, sustainable production. Flextanks are cost-effective, sustainable, efficient, controllable, and award-winning. Flextank is based in Vancouver, Washington, with product dealers around the world. To learn more about Flextank and its products, visit: https://flextank.com/.
Flextanks vs. Concrete Eggs: A Comparative Overview for the Winemaker
Modern winemaking demands storage solutions that blend innovation with practical results. Both Flextanks and concrete eggs offer excellent fermentation dynamics and temperature control, yet Flextanks provide clear advantages in cost, flexibility, and maintenance. Here’s a closer look at why Flextanks are the smarter choice.
Cost Efficiency
When storing 450 gallons, Flextanks come in at around $1870, whereas concrete eggs typically exceed $10,000. This significant difference makes Flextanks the clear choice for winemakers looking to maximize efficiency without sacrificing quality. By opting for a Flextank, you can free up resources for other critical areas of your winery.
Fermentation and Temperature Control
Both options support robust yeast circulation and natural internal convection, ensuring a consistent fermentation. However, Flextanks provide the same benefits without the hefty price tag or the permanence of concrete eggs. Additionally, their seamless construction makes precise temperature control more predictable and manageable.
Mobility and Wine Transfer
A major advantage of Flextanks is their inherent mobility:
- Ease of Movement: Flextanks can be easily relocated, offering flexibility in layout and operations.
- Simplified Wine Transfers: Their design simplifies the process of moving wine, reducing the risk of contamination and minimizing oxygen exposure during transfers.
In contrast, the fixed nature of concrete eggs may restrict operational flexibility, particularly in dynamic production environments.
Cleaning and Sanitation
Maintaining high sanitation standards is crucial:
- Flextanks: Their smooth, non-porous surfaces allow for straightforward cleaning without the need for extensive pretreatment, effectively reducing the risk of residual buildup.
- Concrete Eggs: May require more rigorous cleaning procedures to avoid potential cleaning impediments.
Micro-Oxygenation Benefits
Flextanks offer a controlled level of micro-oxygenation, similar to what you’d find in traditional wooden barrels. This subtle oxygen exposure can help enhance the complexity of the wine, providing a modern solution that still honors time-tested winemaking practices.
Conclusion
While both flextanks and concrete eggs offer fermentation stability, flextanks stand out as the more practical, cost-effective, and versatile choice. With superior mobility, effortless cleaning, and a significantly lower cost, they provide winemakers with a smarter, more efficient way to manage fermentation and storage.
Contact us Today to Learn How Flextank Can Elevate Your Winemaking Process!
Flextank Helps La Mesa Vineyards Deliver Award-Winning Wines Sweep Gold Medals At Three Prestigious California Wine Competitions
Flextank Helps La Mesa Vineyards Deliver Award-Winning Wines
Sweep Gold Medals At Three Prestigious California Wine Competitions
La Mesa Vineyards uses Flextank vessels to capture gold medals
and create top small-batch artisan-style wines of exceptional quality.
Vancouver, Wash. – August 06, 2024 – Flextank, the leader in advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks for wine, cider, spirits and craft beverage fermentation and storage, today announced one of the company’s premier Flextank customers, La Mesa Vineyards, recently swept prestigious industry wine awards in three separate competitions.
The Amador County, Calif.-based La Mesa Vineyards received several Gold, Double Gold and Best-in-Class awards at the respected 2024 Peninsula Underground "Under the Radar" California wine competition, 2024 Orange County Fair Commercial Wine competition, and at the 2024 California State Fair competition.
Competition is Fierce. Flextank Helps Deliver Award-Winning Results.
With nearly 5,000 wineries in California, the competition for consumer preferences and loyalty is fierce. Winemakers must rely on steady, solid methods and vessels in their creation of an awarded, and highly demanded beverage from the simplicity of a small fruit.
For La Mesa Vineyards, the Flextank advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks were an essential element in the creation of their award-winning wines in all processes: from crush to fermentation to bottling.
In the 2024 Peninsula Underground "Under the Radar" California wine competition, La Mesa’s award-winning wines included: La Mesa 2023 Muscat Canelli: Double Gold, Best Muscat; La Mesa 2023 Chardonnay: Double Gold, Best Chardonnay; La Mesa 2022 Soleil: Gold, Best Value; and La Mesa 2022 Zinfandel: Gold, Best Zinfandel.
La Mesa Vineyards also won two major awards at the 2024 Orange County Fair Commercial Wine Competition. At 96 points, the La Mesa 2023 Chardonnay received the highest score among all 2,500 wines entered in the competition, receiving both a Double Gold and a Best of Class award.
Also, La Mesa Vineyards was decorated with two major awards at the 2024 California State Fair: The La Mesa 2020 Primitivo received Double Gold, with 99 points, "Best of California"; and the La Mesa 2020 Barbera received Gold, with 95 points.
Previously, La Mesa Vineyards won Gold Medals at the largest competition in North America, the 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. La Mesa took the Double Gold with the 2020 Tierra GSM, and Gold on its 2020 Primitivo, and 2021 Syrah and Mourvedre wines.
"As a relatively new winery to Amador County, we're entering our wines in the big California wine competitions for the very first time,” said La Mesa Vineyards owner-winemaker, Côme Laguë. “All the early work we have done to research clones, innovations in winemaking techniques, and using our Flextank technology are paying off. We've benefited from encouragement from our family and friends during years marked by drought, wildfires, frost events, lockdowns and generally tough business conditions. So, it's gratifying to emerge from all that, placing among the very best in the state by an expert panel of judges."
Flextank Helps Wineries Increase Efficiency, Production and Revenue
Flextank vessels are individually designed to have an adjustable oxygen-permeable surface area-to-volume ratio and related wall thickness and configuration. These superior qualities make Flextanks ideal for craft beverage production – from stem to glass.
Flextanks are also engineered to provide higher production capability in less space and produce efficient, controllable, stackable, sustainable production. This production efficiency helps craft beverage makers boost the capacity of their barrel rooms, reduce bottle costs and increase revenue.
“Many craft beverage makers are in a tight bind now. They need to both reduce overhead costs and increase production,” said Jon Smalley, Flextank CEO. “Flextank helps craft wineries assess and thereby reduce their current expenses, increase their ROI, better utilize their space, increase labor efficiency, expand operations, and increase margins.”
Wineries, Cideries and Craft Beverage Makers Can Calculate Benefits
Flextank also provides Craft Beverage Makers a convenient way to assess production costs, estimate efficiency, map out how to expand capacity, improve output and revenue, and send the results directly to their email – via a free Production and Operational Expense (OpEx) Calculator. The Real-time Revenue and Operational Expense Calculator is available HERE (https://flextank.com/send-my-barrel-calculation-results/).
About La Mesa Vineyards
La Mesa Vineyards was founded in 2011, in the higher altitude and granitic red soil of Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley. The winery focuses on creating small-batch artisan style wines of exceptional quality. For more information, visit the La Mesa Vineyards website at https://lamesavineyards.com/.
About Flextank
Flextank advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks and hoppers are the leading wine, cider, spirits and craft beverage fermentation and storage solutions available worldwide. Flextanks help beverage makers have affordable, efficient production. More than 4000 craft beverage production operations worldwide rely on Flextank for efficient, controllable, sustainable production. To learn more about Flextank and its products, visit: www.flextank.com. Phone +1-360-450-2694.
Flextank Wine vessels Oak Barrel alternative Award-winning maturation Increased production improved margins winemaking efficiency
Flextanks: The Industry's Best-Kept Secret for Making Better Wine & Craft Beverages Finally Revealed
Fix the Current Challenges Winemakers are Facing
“Winemakers . . . are often pressured to do things like reduce staff costs, or costs generally . . . Wine is a social beverage – its production should be social too.” – Oliver Styles, winemaker at Winemaker Halcyon Wines- Hawke’s Bay NZ
“There is also the battle to reduce costs yet increase quality. We need to be profitable to be successful but defend what we need to successfully create wines of quality and distinction.” – Mark Beaman, Winemaker, Kenwood Vineyards
“Sustainability is becoming key. Organics. biodynamics, natural winemaking, to paperless systems. Everything we can do to reduce waste and give back and nurture the land and sky the better.” – Paul Dawick, Head Winemaker at Mills Reef,
“. . . we need to see a new wave of winemakers who are focused on innovation, sustainability, and inclusion.” – Lauren Barrett, Principal Consultant, By and By Solutions LLC
“. . . many grape growers are demanding better terms and that wineries provide picking bins, and arrange and pay for trucking among other things.” – Aaron Lieberman, Winemaker at Iris Vineyards
These, and other notable winemakers and industry consultants, chimed in to answer the question, “What are the current challenges winemakers are facing?” In Sommelier Business this week.
A top theme that these wine experts shared was that there need to be improvements in productivity and sustainability for wineries to remain competitive in today’s changing market.
Craft beverage makers need a solution to this challenge. And it’s right here.
Winemakers in the Know – Know Flextank.
Wineries, cideries, spirits, mead and craft beverage makers worldwide rely on Flextank for efficient, controllable, sustainable production. Flextanks are:
- Cost effective – Reduce barrel costs, labor, space and time. Deliver higher revenue.
- Efficient – Easier to move, store, stack and clean. Provide increased productivity.
- Controllable – Breathe like a barrel.
- Award-Winning – Hundreds of craft beverage makers have won industry awards using Flextank.
- Proven – After more than 25 years, 95% of all Flextanks are still in use by thousands of operations.
- Sustainable – Include a lifetime guarantee. Eliminate extensive cleaning, water and chemical use.
It’s easy to transport empty or full Flextanks to different locations within the operation, including fermentation, blending, fining, maturation, production and cleaning stations.
Affordable. Efficient. Production.
Flextanks, made from polyethylene, are flexible and versatile vessels. Flextanks are recognized industry-wide for their sustainability, all-stage production and aging flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of handling. For every stage of the winemaking process – from harvest to bottling.
The Flextank vessels are engineered to provide higher production capability in less space. This production efficiency helps winemakers, cidermakers and craft beverage makers boost the capacity of their barrel rooms, reduce bottle costs and increase revenue.
Flextanks are manufactured with the highest quality FDA and European Food Safety Authority-approved, North American resins.
Make it Happen. Now. We Can Help.
Let us help you – schedule your free call. 1:1 consulting session now.
Request Your Consultation.
Submit the consultation request form with your availability. We will contact you with a time that works.
- Prepare a List of Challenges.
Come prepared to discuss areas where you could use our help, and your project timeline (even if it’s ASAP).
- Speak to our Experts.
During your consultation, one of our experts will discuss your workplace challenges and high-level ideas and solutions.
- Create a Plan
We understand that no two worksites are the same. Our consultants will review your challenges, then develop strategies to help you reduce costs, maximize efficiency, and increase revenue.
- Put it to Work
Your advisor will follow up to ensure you have all the information, planning and resources needed to complete your project.
Flextank can help wineries and craft beverage makers. It’s easy. Give us a call at + 1-360-450-2694
Or simply fill out the form HERE. We’ll help you make it happen.
- Cost effective– Reduced barrel costs, labor, space and time. Higher revenue.
- Sustainable– Lifetime guarantee. Eliminate extensive cleaning, water and chemical use.
- Efficient– Easier to move, store, stack and clean. Increased productivity.
- Controllable– Breathe like a barrel.
- Award-Winning– Hundreds of craft beverage makers have won industry awards using Flextank.
- Proven– Over 25 years, 95% of all Flextanks are still in use by thousands of operations.
https://flextank.com/2024/03/28/fix-the-current-challenges-winemakers-are-facing/
Flextank Offers Free Operational Expense Savings Production Calculator That Helps Wineries and Cideries Analyze and Increase Revenue
New Flextank Production OpEx Calculator Provides Projected Efficiency, Space, Cost Savings, and Ways to Improve Productivity, Expand Production, Storage, Sustainability and Margins.
Vancouver, Wash. – March 12, 2024 – Flextank, the leader in advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks for wine, cider, spirits and craft beverage fermentation and storage, today announced availability of a free Production and Operational Expense (OpEx) Calculator for beverage makers.
The new Flextank Production and OpEx Calculator helps Wineries, Cideries. Spirits and Craft Beverage Makers assess their projected production and OpEx costs, estimate production efficiency, map out how to expand capacity, and improve output and revenue growth.
The new Flextank Calculator helps Craft Beverage Makers:
- Estimate in real-time projected production, OpEx costs and potential revenue.
- Map out how to reduce overhead and OpEx costs, and expand capacity and production efficiency.
- Assess oak barrel requirements by gallons or liters.
- Develop custom, durable long-term production and storage solutions.
- Obtain free downloadable results that will help owners, operations managers and CFOs map out their 2024 marketing and production strategy.
“Many Cideries, Wineries and Craft Beverage Makers are in a tight bind now. They need to both reduce overhead OpEx costs and increase production,” said Jon Smalley, Flextank CEO. “Craft Beverage producers have to find new ways to increase their ROI, better utilize their space, increase labor efficiency and overall revenue. This new Calculator helps these beverage producers assess and thereby reduce their current expenses and plan how they can scale and expand their operation, and increase margins.”
Flextank Calculator Availability
The new calculator is available now. Beverage production, operational and financial planners can access the Real-time Flextank Revenue + OpEx Calculator HERE (https://flextank.com/send-my-barrel-calculation-results/) and send the results directly to their email.
Flextank consultants can also provide Craft Beverage Makers with expert guidance, as well as production and project consultation that is oriented to help operators increase their: productivity, sustainability, efficiency, revenue, and margins.
About Flextank
Flextank advanced oxygen-permeable polyethylene tanks and hoppers are the leading wine, cider, spirits and craft beverage fermentation and storage solutions available worldwide. Flextanks help beverage makers have affordable, efficient production. More than 4000 Cideries and craft beverage production operations worldwide rely on Flextank for efficient, controllable, sustainable production.
SmaK Plastics is the parent company of well-known industry brands such as Flextank. SmaK Plastics is based in Vancouver, Washington with product dealers around the world. To learn more about SmaK Plastics and its brands, visit: www.smakplastics.com.
FlexStaves: Initiation, Cellar Activities and Duration
Flextank has partnered with one of the leading cooperage companies in the world to provide a proprietary staves system under the brand name FlexStaves that are designed to work in conjunction with our tanks. Available to winemakers is a portfolio of different staves bundles types that are used to make a wide range red and white wines.
Each pack of FlexStaves is one barrel equivalent and serves to mirror aging in traditional oak barrels. So instead of putting wine into oak, winemakers can achieve greater control but putting the desired amount of oak into the wine. This system extends new barrel oak by exposing the maximum amount of wine to the maximum surface of the oak. And unlike barrels, once a desired profile is achieved, the oak to be easily removed.
Head to Flextank.com to try out our FlexStave calculator and all of the flavor profiles we offer!
Free WinExpo Floor Pass from Flextank
Come See Us for Free Next Thursday at WinExpo in Booth #143 for:
- How to Save a Struggling Business
- THE Original Barrel Replacement Tanks Made in the USA
- Ways Poly Tanks are Better Than Oak Barrels
- Meet Flextank President Jon Smalley
I Want a Free WinExpo Floor Pass ($20-30 Value)
Barrels & Flextanks, How Do They Differ?
Barrels & Flextanks, How Do They Differ?
Webinar hosted by Author Daniel Pambianchi
Wednesday Nov. 22 | 8-9pm EST
Delve Into:
- Chemical differences in aging wine in oak barrels vs. Flextanks
- What happens in micro-oxidation and aging
- Differences in physical aspects, kinetics and dynamics
Learn More and Get a FREE Ticket ($9.95 Value)
6 Features to Look for in an Excellent Fermentation Vessel
In addition to speed, temperature and level of oxygen, choosing a fermentation vessel is one of the most vital decisions a winemaker can make in the fermentation process that will affect the finished wine.
#1: Easy Access for Punch Down (for Reds)
Why: Punch down process is a key step to a good ferment for red wine. This means being able to easily access the must is of the utmost importance in a good fermentation vessel.
Strong Choices: Stainless Steel, Poly Tanks, Poly Bins
Stainless Steel Tanks; Poly Tanks like Flextank Stackers, Egg Tanks, Dexter Tanks; plus Versa Bins used for open-fermenting all have wide openings which lend perfect access for Punch Down.
Weak Choices: Barrels
While barrels work for aging and storing wine, and can be used to ferment white wines, they simply don’t allow access for the key punch down process necessary in fermenting reds.
#2: Absence of Unwanted Chemical Reactions
Why: Certain vessel materials can react poorly with the acid in the wine and add unwanted flavor to the finished product.
Strong Choices: Stainless Steel, Poly Tanks, Poly Bins
Both stainless steel tanks and poly vessels have been scientifically proven to allow the natural chemical reactions of fermentation while not imparting any unwanted chemical reactions or taste into wine.
Weak Choices: Concrete
In concrete tanks, metallic compounds can form during the fermentation process due to the acid reacting with the concrete. This can give your wine a metallic taste.
#3: Maneuverability
Why: Moving your vessel is an important factor to consider when choosing a tank. Often as cellars operate and grow, moving and transporting vessels to different spaces is a regular part of that process.
Strong Choices: Poly Tanks, Poly Bins
Poly tanks and bins, though extremely durable, are also very lightweight and maneuverable. This makes transporting empty or full to different locations within the cellar, such as cleaning stations, a breeze.
Weak Choices: Stainless Steel, Concrete
Most stainless steel tanks and concrete tanks are very heavy and difficult to move. Maneuvering these tanks comes with a higher risk of damage or cracks to the tank.
#4: Easy Sanitation
Why: Microbial Bacteria can cause mold growth.
Strong Choices: Stainless Steel, Poly Tanks
The smooth walls of a stainless steel or poly tank make sanitation both very low cost and easy to do.
Weak Choices: Concrete, Barrels
Concrete and Barrels both have very porous surfaces that can harbor harmful microbial bacteria. For both of the vessels, maintaining proper sanitation can be expensive and a hassle.
#5: Multipurpose/Versatility
Why: When looking to add fermentation vessels to your operations, it can be a wise economic decision to consider the versatility of the vessel and ask yourself is fermentation the only function that the vessel performs for me?
Strong Choice: Poly Tanks
With the proper OTR choice and temperature accessories like Fermentation Locks and Thermometers, poly tanks like Flextanks can be a flexible tank for use in fermentation, maturation, transportation, and storage.
Medium Choice: Stainless Steel
Stainless steel tanks are a popular choice for fermenting. For some smaller wineries, however this is the only function they are used to perform which makes them an expensive cellar addition.
Weak Choice: Oak Barrels
Oak Barrels are a popular choice for aging, but are not able to perform fermenting functions for reds like punch down without serious and costly modifications that render them unusable for maturation.
#6: Cost
Why: Cost is one of the biggest decisions that can make all the difference in keeping a smaller professional winery running in harder economic times as market competition grows.
Strong Choices: Poly Tanks
Gallon for gallon, Poly Tanks are the undisputed winner of this category by a substantial margin reigning as the most affordable vessel for fermenting wine.
Weak Choices: Stainless Steel, Concrete, Oak Barrels
These options can cost more than eight times as much as Poly Tanks for performing the same, or fewer, tasks.
https://flextank.com/2023/10/25/6-features-to-look-for-in-an-excellent-fermentation-vessel/
About
Flextank is the new-age technology that is leading the beverage industry in producing award-winning wines, ciders, meads and spirits throughout the world. Engineered to provide all barrel functions for maturation and storage, with extreme space and cost saving benefits over other vessels, Flextanks and accessories give you controlled oxygen permeation and flavor control necessary to create your next great beverage. Perfect for wine making and storage.
Our polyethylene tanks are configured for convenient use and designed to assist oxygen management in wine production and were designed to contest the notorious challenges faced by the modern-day wine and beverage maker using oak barrels and stainless-steel tanks.
Flextank vessels have been sold in the USA since 2006 and are currently leading the market in the area of new-age wine and beverage-making. Notable and award-winning wines, ciders and meads have come from our tanks, which are manufactured and assembled in Vancouver, Washington in the United States for distribution worldwide.
The vessels manufactured by Flextank are made from high quality North American resins approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority.
Contact
Contact List
| Title | Name | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Manager | Jerry Dalnes | jdalnes@flextankusa.com | 360-980-0206 |
Location List
| Locations | Address | State | Country | Zip Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flextank | 9116 NE 130th Ave., Vancouver | WA | United States of America | 98682 |
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