Local wineries will soon be able to order bottles locally.
David Addamo is opening Glopak Wine and Spirits, a new 20,000-square-foot wine bottle distribution center in Santa Maria.
It’s Addamo’s latest venture in the local wine industry. Out of the past 16 years he’s spent in Santa Maria, 12 of them were spent making wine. He’s currently the winemaker for Ca’ Del Grevino winery.
According to Addamo, his is the first wine bottle distribution company on the Central Coast. Before Glopak, wineries in Santa Barbara County have had to rely on companies from the Napa area, he said.
This is good, Addamo said, because wineries from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles will have someone local to get their wine bottles from and they won’t have to pay for or deal with complications from shipping.
“Anyone can walk in and get their orders and not have to wait,” Addamo said. “The best part about what we’re doing is that we’re going to have a major stock of inventory.
“It’s exciting as a winemaker,” Addamo said. “There’s been times where you run short and to get glass is so difficult. It takes weeks at a time. It could take months.”
Even better, there’s no minimum order, which Addamo said is good for home vintners. There are no brokers’ fees with Glopak, Addamo said, because the company sells directly to the consumer.
Addamo’s warehouse is actually part of a larger company, Glopak USA, which is based in New York. Santa Maria is the company’s foray into the California market, according to Addamo.
It seems rather obvious why such a business would come to a region with a robust wine economy, but why not Napa? It helps having some family connections. Addamo’s cousin, Enzo, took over New York operations and helped him get started in Santa Maria.
According to Addamo, the company imports glass bottles made in China, where it owns a factory.
Glopak not only sells bottles for wineries, but breweries and distilleries too, although wineries are the main focus for now.
If he finds success here, Addamo eventually wants to set up shop in the Los Angeles and Napa areas too.
“We’re going to cover all of California,” Addamo said.
A grand opening will be held at 4:30 p.m. on May 20 at the new Glopak warehouse located at 3070 Skyway Drive, unit 402, behind the FedEx facility. For more information, call 331-5000.
Highlights
• The Kids’ Cancer Research Center in San Luis Obispo announced on April 22 the addition of two world-renowned pediatric cancer researchers, doctors Paul Sondel and Andras Heczey, to its medical advisory board. Sondel spent the last 40 years developing treatments still used today in fighting pediatric cancer, specifically for neuroblastoma (NB), considered one of the deadliest childhood cancers. Heczey’s focus is continuing advances in developing the utilization of T-Cells against solid tumors in children. When a child on the Central Coast—or anywhere else in the country—is diagnosed with NB, the child will most likely be treated with protocols developed by doctors on Kids’ Cancer Research Center’s medical advisory board.
• The Santa Maria State of the City—Business Development Forum will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on June 15 at the Santa Maria Fairpark located at 937 S. Thornburg St. City Manager Rick Haydon will provide an update on the state of Santa Maria. The forum provides insight on programs that the business community can use to improve its knowledge base and activities. Tickets are on sale for $20 for Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce members and $30 for non-members. To register, call the chamber at 925-2402 or send an email to register@santamaria.com.
Staff Writer David Minsky wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
This article appears in May 19-26, 2016.