Longtime winemaker helps other makers of craft drinks
In the late 19th century, John C. Meier, the son of a German immigrant, developed a way to make grape juice and put it in bottles. He used native American grapes, like those his father grew on land near Cincinnati where Kenwood Towne Centre is today.
He was, you could say, a craft-drink bottler.
Meier went on to create the J.C Meier Grape Juice Co., which became Meier’s Wine Cellars and has been operating ever since in the Cincinnati suburb of Silverton, making it the oldest, largest winery in Ohio.
Now, more than 125 years of winemaking later, Meier’s Wine Cellars has a new role in the craft-drink business.
Meier’s new owner is tapping into a huge interest in craft spirits, wine and soft drinks, using the company’s assets to help those small companies get their products made and packaged.
“We’re acting as a brand incubator in the craftbeverage industry,” said President Paul Lux, who took over Meier’s this year.
In 2011, Meier’s was bought by Luxco, a familyowned, St. Louis-based liquor company that owns 120 brands. This year, it was spun off and sold to Lux, who is the grandson of Luxco’s founder.
“Luxco puts their time and energy into growing the brands they own,” Lux said. “Meier has contract brands, and our goal is also growing those small businesses, so it made sense to separate into two companies.”
Meier’s has built a lot of infrastructure since 1890. Its Silverton facility, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is 6 acres, 5 of which are under roof. The company has expertise with cooperage and barrels, and many of its 27 employees have decades of experience. There’s rail access. Meier’s has three bottling lines that combine new robotic technology with old mechanical technology. The company has 2 million gallons of stainless-steeltank storage, a carbo cooler for carbonating beverages, a place to store labels and a large warehouse.
Not all this capacity is needed for making Meier’s brands.
“We make more wine than ever,” said Lux. “But we use things more efficiently.”
With modern lean business practices and new winemaking practices, Meier’s doesn’t have to keep a huge inventory of wine or grape juice in those expensive stainless-steel tanks.
At the same time, new, small brands, don’t need to spend to create similar infrastructure themselves.
“No one could afford to build those tanks now,” said Lux.
A new bourbon brand doesn’t need its own bottling line to differentiate itself in the market.
So Meier’s can, for instance, lease space in those tanks to rum companies to store rum in case island hurricanes disrupt their shipping.
When a huge fire hit Valley Vineyards in Morrow in Warren County, the winery moved its product to Meier’s facility to store.
Meier’s can run other products on the bottling line or carbonate craft soda products. A new bourbon brand can blend its bourbon at the winery. Cellars and outdoor storage are available.
Barrels that have been used to age a wine or spirit often can be reused for a secondary aging project. A bourbon barrel used to age sherry might be offered later to a client looking for a particular sherry note in gin or bourbon.
“We allow craft companies to actually focus on their craft. We can say to them — you worry about the art, about the recipe you’re using,” Lux said. “Let me worry about how to get it in a bottle.”