The Napa Valley has made its mark and built an amazing reputation as a premier wine producing region, but what many do not realize is that only 4% of California’s total wine production and four-tenths of 1% of the world’s wine comes from within the Napa Valley. With that in mind, it is incredible to believe that there are more than 450 wineries producing Napa Valley wine under even more brands and labels than ever. How does a winery differentiate their brand when there are so many coming from such a small region?
Bergin Glass Impressions (“Bergin”) knows the answer to that question and has been providing wineries with beautiful wine bottles painted and etched by hand to help wineries differentiate themselves and make consumers appreciate not only the wine inside the bottle but also the artwork on the outside of the bottle.
In 1989, Mike Bergin was ready to try something new and decided to move back to his hometown of Napa and start a new business after a previous career as a corporate banker in San Francisco. Originally, Bergin started Bergin Glass Impressions with one other employee and since then it has grown to 13 employees and is now the largest hand painting and etching studio in California with 8 painters and 4 etchers.
Southern Napa and the Napa Valley Commons has been home to Bergin for quite some time and has really seen the growth of Bergin. Originally located along Kaiser Road, Bergin needed a bigger space with the growth of their screen printing business. In 2006, Bergin took 24,000 square feet in the newly developed “The Vines” within the Napa Valley Commons and then expanded even further, taking an additional 16,000 square feet next door.
The screen printing portion of the business has really expanded and no w accounts for 90% of the business. Bergin is currently running two ten-hour shifts daily, five days a week, printing about 60,000 bottles a day. Screen printing is a unique trade—the most difficult surface to print on is glass and the most difficult shape to print on is a cylinder, both of which perfectly describe a wine bottle. As a result, Bergin is constantly training employees and working to master the equipment and the art that goes into these beautiful bottles.
Bergin prides itself on not only providing the most beautiful wine bottles but also having amazing employees and customer service which has been a major contributor to Bergin’s success and growth over the last 25 years. Fortunately for many Napa locals, you can find Bergin’s beautiful handiwork on the bottles of many local Napa wineries.
The next time that you pick up a screen printed or etched bottle at a winery, pause for a moment and appreciate it.
For more information about Bergin Glass Impressions, visit their website at www.berginglass.com