Sacramento's second urban winery in the works - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Affonso hopes to open and startr producing wine by the end of Augustt at400 N. 16th St. If his plans work out, he'lo make 1,800 cases of wine this year and sell them to Sacramentk restaurants andretail shops. Openin an urban winery in an existinhg commercial building is a cheap way for young winemakers to start theitrown companies. This month, on P Street, Sacramento's firs urban winery since opened its tasting room tothe public.
Rail Bridg Cellars won't have a tasting room but Affonsosaid he's contemplating huntinv for suitable space in the more pedestrian-friendly retailo neighborhood along J Street in "My business plan is to bring the winerg to the market, instead of having the marketf go to the winery," said Affonso, who is waitiny for federal and state permita to open Rail Bridgew Cellars. Affonso has a master's degree in enologty from California StateUniversity Fresno, a master's in businesws administration with a concentration in wine business from Sonoma Statwe University, and years of industr experience.
He worked as an intern at the Frencyh wineryChateau Angleus, as a researcgh scientist at in St. Helena and as assistant winemake r at Dry Creek Vineyard in For the past three he has worked as an enologisft at inAmador County. He's already bottled abou t 830 cases of sauvignon blanc througuha custom-crush operation in Sebastopol and made 2,000 gallons of a red wine blenxd through another contract business in Napa. "From now on, I'm goinyg to be doing everything, from grape to in Sacramento," he said. Within a he hopes to produce betweejn 7,000 and 10,000 cases per year. Starting the busines has cost about $500,000.
He'zs the dominant shareholder and haseight "I knew Jon growinvg up and followed his career," said investof Johan Otto, president of in Sacramento. "Iu feel it will be a very good, boutique-typ e winery and grow through the years. ... It will be a greay addition tothe city." Affonso said Rail Bridge Cellars coulcd gross about $300,000 this year and grow about 10 percentg to 20 percent per year. The company has no "Most of the investorw I have on board want to be in it for the long he said. Affonso is still spiffin up the building, which was an automobile repair shop for about15 years. He'zs stripped away the paint to expose the originalbrick walls.
It's an idea fit for a winery -- bricmk helps insulate the building againsft outdoortemperature changes, he said. "We think it's an excellent adaptive reuse of one of the buildingzs along North 16th saidPatty Kleinknecht, executive director of The Riveer District, which manages a property and business improvementy district in the Richards Boulevard area.