Crushpad Japan Brings California Wine Making to Asia

Crushpad Japan Brings California Wine Making to Asia

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Crushpad, the urban winery that is democratizing wine making, today announced the launch of Crushpad Japan to serve the rapidly growing base of California wine enthusiasts in Japan. No longer will cultural and language differences, distance, or import restrictions hamper Japanese wine lovers in creating their very own luxury California wine.

With personnel based in Tokyo and San Francisco, Crushpad Japan will provide Japanese language marketing, sales and winemaking support tailored to the Japanese market - Crushpad's largest market outside the U.S. Customers will share in the excitement of the wine harvest through live Web streaming reports from Japanese correspondents and connect with other wine enthusiasts through a localized language version of Crushnet, Crushpad's online wine community. The new entity will also handle shipping and local regulatory issues to make it easy for Japanese wine lovers to receive their wine and will act as a liaison for Japanese visitors to Crushpad's San Francisco winery.

To launch the new unit, Crushpad turned to two professionals intimately familiar with the sense of personal expression and accomplishment that comes with making your own luxury wine -- current customers Takahide Sugimoto and Makoto Kanda.

Mr. Sugimoto has made wine with Crushpad since its inaugural vintage and operates the California Wine Garden (http://www.cwg.jp/) and s.l.o restaurant in Tokyo, where he will continue to be based. He also established the California Wine Fan Club, which counts over 1,300 members. Mr. Kanda has also been a Crushpad customer and brings extensive distribution and logistics expertise through his SHIP2U shipping service (http://www.ship2u.com/). He will be based in San Francisco.

"The prospect of living the California wine country lifestyle holds great worldwide appeal," said Mr. Kanda. "We're excited to bring that opportunity to the many Japanese wine enthusiasts, formerly restricted by geography and lack of wine industry connections, through Crushpad Japan."

About Crushpad

Crushpad is a San Francisco-based custom winemaking facility whose over 2,500 clients include wine enthusiasts, professional winemakers, wine bars, retailers and restaurateurs. Crushpad specializes in small-lot, luxury wine production from California's most notable vineyards. The company was founded in 2004 by wine industry veterans and technology industry refugees determined to liberate winemaking from its traditional stereotypes of impossible wealth, expansive chateaus and golden retrievers. For more information about Crushpad call 415-864-4232 or visit http://www.crushpadwine.com/.

Contact:

Patrick Hurley
patrick@crushpadwine.com
415-864-4232

Takahide Sugimoto
takahide.sugimoto@crushpad.jp

Makoto Kanda
makoto.kanda@crushpad.jp

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Crushpad

CONTACT: Patrick Hurley, +1-415-864-4232, patrick@crushpadwine.com; or
Takahide Sugimoto, takahide.sugimoto@crushpad.jp; or Makoto Kanda,
makoto.kanda@crushpad.jp, all for Crushpad

Web site:

http://www.crushpadwine.com/
http://www.cwg.jp/
http://www.ship2u.com/

-------
Profile: intent