27253 Mon Jan 05 17:20:51 -0800 2004 5 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 111954 I was cruising through the Carneros area of Napa and wanted to stop in at RMS Distillery to pick up some brandy, but when I called to check on their hours, there was no listing in information and the one phone number I had from a couple years ago was disconnected. I then checked on BevMo's site to see if I could order it and there was no listing. The last place I checked was Piedmont Grocery and they indicated that it was no longer available. I can't believe that after all this time, they've finally thrown in the towel. Remy-Martin and Scharfenberger put in an enormous amount of rescources into the facility and product, as anyone who's ever visted will attest. Anyone who can shed some light on this mystery, please chime in. -Thanks Mon Jan 05 17:20:51 -0800 2004 0 Curtis 1 111957 Here's an article with details. The owners apparently decided to quit making brandy and sold the distillery to Beringer Blass, who are going to turn the facility into a winery for their Etude brand. Link: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Daily/News/0,1145,1765,00.html Mon Jan 05 17:53:59 -0800 2004 111954 0 nja 2 111978 Thanks for the heads up. It's a shame to see them go, but I found out that a new distillery opened up in Petaluma right by Sonoma Portworks called Sweetwater Distillery. They're going to be making some brandies as well as vodka and gin. I guess that Germain-Robin (and the brandy they make for Jepson) will be my default local spirits. Mon Jan 05 21:49:05 -0800 2004 111957 0 Curtis 3 112027 You should also check out St. George Spirits (http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/) in Alameda and Anchor (http://www.anchorbrewing.com/about_us/anchordistilling.htm) in San Francisco. They are making some wonderful distilled spirits. Tue Jan 06 14:09:53 -0800 2004 111978 0 Nancy Berry 3 112069 I would also highly recommend checking out Osocalis Distillery based up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They've just released their first brandy (only 7 yrs old), and it's fabulous. Link: http://www.osocalis.com/ Tue Jan 06 17:55:10 -0800 2004 111978 0 Matt 1 113052 Evidently Rémy Cointreau threw in the towel (I believe they'd bought out Schramsberg's interest a while back). They were losing big money in the late '90s, and decided to sell off what they considered to be non-core properties. It breaks my heart that I didn't find out they were closing until after the fact, and so missed out on the chance to buy a couple of cases of Pear de Pear.... Thu Jan 15 21:01:51 -0800 2004 111954 0 JohnB