Richard Cardoza launching VINIUM wine venture
Vinium partners Richard Cardoza, left, and George Bursick, the company's winemaker, display VINIUM packaging. COURTESY OF RICHARD CARDOZA/VINIUM WINE
By Mike Lawrence
Posted Apr 23, 2016 at 7:30 PM
The founder and former owner of Cork is going uncorked.
Richard Cardoza, the Fairhaven native who expanded his family’s Cardoza’s Wine & Spirits chain, founded Cork Wine & Tapas Bar on the waterfront and catered countless SouthCoast events with his Top Shelf Beverage business, before filing for bankruptcy and selling it all a few years ago, now is launching a wine venture in California.
Cardoza said his startup, VINIUM, will offer high-quality wines in environmentally friendly packaging that doesn’t involve glass bottles.
“Once you pop the cork, all bets are off — you have to drink that wine within the next 12 hours, or else it starts turning brown like an apple,” Cardoza, 59, said in a phone conversation from California earlier this month. “That’s where our package comes in. It keeps our wine fresh after you open it, for up to six weeks.”
Cardoza said a 30-day donation drive for VINIUM will start Tuesday on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding website.
Cardoza said he realizes having success with VINIUM could require changing perceptions about the quality of packaged, or boxed, wines, which often are viewed as inferior to bottled wines.
“I’ve got access to some of the finest wines and grapes in all of California,” Cardoza said, adding that he’s also talking with wine brands about selling some “very high-end names of their wines” in VINIUM packaging.
“It would be the Grey Goose of the vodka section or the Patron of the tequila section,” he said. “We would be the super-premium brand in the wine category.”
VINIUM wines, according to a presentation provided by Cardoza, will be made by Maxville Lake Winery in St. Helena, Calif., in the Napa Valley. The company’s winemaker is partner George Bursick, formerly of Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery, also in northern California, and the nearby J Vineyards & Winery.
Cardoza said VINIUM’s paper and cardboard packaging will be made from 100 percent recycled materials, with a plastic pouch inside and a spigot to dispense the wine.
Everything I say is in my opinion, do your own DD and make your decision wisely! Don't spend more then you can afford to lose!
