(Wines&Vines) - A load of just-picked Chardonnay grapes arrived at the new Rack & Riddle location in the Alexander Valley this morning, marking the start of a new vintage and the next phase for the fast-growing, custom-crush wine company.

Rack & Riddle, which carved a lucrative niche in the custom wine services trade by focusing on méthode Champenoise sparkling wines, is now located at the former Murphy-Goode winery on Highway 128 in the Alexander Valley and another production and bottling facility at a former Clos Du Bois barrel warehouse at 499 Moore Lane in the city of Healdsburg.

The company had to leave its former location in Hopland, Calif., when its landlord Entertainment Properties Trust sold that property to Duckhorn Wine Co. Bruce Lundquist, who owns Rack & Riddle with his business partner Rebecca Faust, said it was pretty clear EPT was divesting itself of its wine industry stake and they would need to find a new location.

He said the transition has been seamless and the clients have made the move with them. “We’re booked up; it just followed us down here,” Lundquist said. “We’re a half-hour more convenient than in Hopland.” He said the past year has been an intense period of “controlled chaos” as the company first began converting the barrel warehouse in Healdsburg into a winery and production facility and then set about expanding the winery in Alexander Valley. Both projects are nearing completion just in time for harvest.