Due to the height of the tanks elevating almost 30 feet, transporting them to the winery it became necessary to lay them on their sides horizontally anchored to the beds of the semi-trucks. Gabriele Crane Rental from Rolla, Mo. awaited the transports ready to lift and place them on newly constructed concrete pads vertically. In order to accommodate these tanks, the winery in undergoing a cellar expansion of approximately 5,000 additional square feet making the total square footage of the cellars over 14,500 square feet.

Construction is expected to commence the first of September of the building housing these units. It was necessary to place these tanks in first and construct the structure around them towering to almost 35 feet . These tanks are the largest tanks of its kind in Missouri making St. James Winery one of the largest producing wineries in the Midwest. The capacity for the cellars includes a total of 65 tanks exclusive of the new additions ranging in size from 14,000 to 1,500 gallons.

Rodney Lough, General Manger for St. James Winery stated “We are excited about this time at the winery and our cellar expansion. High demand for our consistent quality wines has made it necessary to increase our capacity while maintaining the integrity of our products”.

With over 1,850 awards to date, St. James Winery was recently named by Wine Business Monthly Magazine, February 2006, as the Number 4 Hottest Small Brands of 2005. St. James Winery has surpassed all other wineries, not only in Missouri, but in the entire 12 state Midwest Region in terms of case volume.

St. James Winery is owned and operated by the Hofherr Family since 1970, conveniently located on Interstate 44, on Old Historic Route 66, only 90 miles southwest of St. Louis, Missouri in St. James, Missouri. With over 700 miles of vines in Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan, no other winery in the Eastern United States utilizes such state of the art technology from the vineyards to the bottling room as St. James Winery bringing you consistent, quality, vintages for your enjoyment. St. James Winery, “Award-Winning Wines from America’s Midwest Winery” with over 1,800 medals awarded to date is distributed in six states presently and available on-line at www.StJamesWinery.com.

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