Wineries are looking for strategies to deal with the current industry-wide downturn. Some are expanding and modernizing their marketing efforts, often to appeal to younger generations, while others are innovating no-alcohol wines or adding fruity white wines to their portfolios to align with consumer preference trends. The shifting winery landscape also offers winery owners the opportunity to grow through acquisition or, conversely, to adapt to shrinking demand by streamlining to reduce production and overhead costs.

Many of these strategies can benefit from taking advantage of a co-packing service. This approach allows the winery to focus on marketing and growing its business. It can also help increase profitability, integrate a newly acquired brand, or quickly launch a new wine. Critically, it lets the winery avoid the significant capital investment required to expand, upgrade, or build bottling lines and hire experienced workers.

In addition, Fior di Sole’s services offer a valuable solution for navigating industry volatility and uncertainty. By utilizing Fior di Sole’s overhead and infrastructure, wineries can easily scale their production up or down based on market demand—without the need for heavy investments in equipment or staffing. This flexibility enables wineries to respond swiftly to changing conditions, reduce risk, and optimize their operations without long-term commitments.

“It is difficult nowadays to find qualified people, and it takes one year to train them to be proficient on a bottling line,” says Stefano Migotto, who has learned this lesson as the owner of California’s 10th-largest winery, Fior di Sole, and the leader for an experienced staff of 260. “With the cost of labor going up, we added automation to our lines, but we realized we needed to train people to run them.”

From its earliest days, Migotto envisioned Fior di Sole as a family-owned Napa winery dedicated to crafting exceptional wines. He combined his experience managing a similar business at his family’s winery in Italy with the strong relationships he developed through his Winetech mobile filtration service. This foundation allowed Fior di Sole to grow into a producer of private label and exclusive brands for retailers like Trader Joe’s and Total Wine & More, while also creating its own acclaimed wines, including Ca’ Momi, The Atom, Twenty Rows, and Centered.

Valentina Guolo & Stefano Migotto, Owner / Fior di Sole

Last year, Fior di Sole opened its doors to wineries lacking the capacity to produce some or all of their wines themselves. Fior di Sole runs four bottling lines for glass—three for still wine (100BPM, 160BPM, and 200BPM) and one for Charmat sparkling wine—and two lines for bag-in-box products, as well as two top-of-the-line packaging lines. These lines mean the company can bottle 25,000 standard cases of wine a day, which gives it plenty of room for new production requests from 1,200 cases to substantial lots.

Migotto explains Fior di Sole’s value: “When a winery’s production goes up, you need a structure in place to manage the inventory of dry goods, the wine, the blending of large lots, the filtration, everything that’s associated with the production. We have a lab capable of doing all the analysis required to bottle a wine successfully. We can conduct in-house microbiological testing, engineer a formula for a fruit-flavored or sparkling wine, and control the oxygen or amount of CO₂ dissolved during bottling. It’s fair to say we offer the full circle around the production of wine.” Fior di Sole’s commitment to customer service includes offering marketing support for bottle and label design and operating a fleet of trucks to transport customers’ wine to storage facilities.

Fior di Sole’s dedication to excellence is underscored by its numerous industry certifications and achievements. They hold Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW) and Safe Quality Food Institute (SQF) certifications, demonstrating their commitment to sustainability and food safety. Additionally, Fior di Sole’s bottling line facility at 2545 Napa Valley Corporate Drive Suite F in Napa, California, is California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certified, confirming adherence to USDA organic regulations. These certifications reinforce Fior di Sole’s unwavering dedication to sustainable practices and organic integrity in the wine industry.

Moreover, Migotto and his winemaking team have made a significant impact with his winemaking expertise, producing 11 wines that scored over 90 points in the last 12 months, highlighting his skill and dedication to quality.

To learn more about how Fior di Sole’s expanded co-packing services can help your winery, visit www.fiordisole.com or call 707.259.1477.