thick walls
grape press
660 gallon fermentation tank
Dry storage
My dad and I also visited Meranda-Nixon Winery in Ripley, OH on February 19th. Run by Seth and Tina Meranda, they began growing grapes in 2003, producing their first bottle of wine in 2007. Unlike Kinkead Ridge Winery, Meranda-Nixon includes a tasting room and restaurant as part of their operation. Their tasting room/retail area consists of several round tables with chairs, a bar for tasting and purchasing wine, 2 ADA restrooms, and some storage space. Guests are able to see acres of grapes out the large windows on the North and East facades of the building. The production facility is an entirely separate building connected by a temporary tent.
The production building is somewhere around 65'x40', or around 2500 sf. The walls are about 8" thick with temperature control to keep the building cool. It is also outfitted with several vents so the fumes from the fermentation process are not a problem. The dry goods are stored in the same area where the wines are fermented and aged, which Mr. Barrett at Kinkead Ridge did not suggest; however, in such a small scale winery, a separate storage area may not be an option. The building also has 2 overhead doors on opposite walls to allow tractors/forklifts to drive straight through (good for circulation). High quality lighting allows the true colors of the wines to be seen. The concrete floors appeared to be in good shape, sloping towards the trench drains near the fermentation tanks.
Seth and Tina were extremely accommodating and allowed us to wander around inside the winery and pester them with questions about their operation.
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