Winemaker hosting educational event

Michael Brill, president and CEO of Crushpad, a San Francisco-based winemaking facility, is hosting “Uncorked, A Wine Blending Evening” with the Commonwealth Club on July 9.

How can someone without any experience make good wine with you?

We teach our clients what decisions they need to make and the impact of those decisions. By the time the wine is bottled, it is truly a product of our client’s decisions ... but we also back them up with a state-of-the-art winery and an experienced winemaking team.

Where do the grapes come from?

We source wine from around 50 of California’s most notable vineyards. These vineyards produce wines that have been rated 95 to 100 points by major reviewers such as Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator. 

Has anyone ever not liked their wine?

We have made over 2,000 different wines with our clients and naturally some are better than others. My favorite story, however, is when a client decided they didn’t like their barrel and it was later adopted by a commercial client of ours. It scored 92 points in the Wine Spectator.

How did the business get started?

In 2003, I made wine for the first time in my Potrero Hill garage. Neighbors would stop by and before they knew it, they were getting dirty and helping me. It occurred to me that there were probably a lot of people who want to make wine, but just didn’t know where to get grapes or how to do it. Four months later, Crushpad opened its doors in an old warehouse in Potrero.