Today, they are shipping more than 5,000 carloads each year on new environmentally friendly, American-made equipment.

Infrastructure proves attractive as California winemakers seek to go green

The city of American Canyon was incorporated in 1992 in an area named Napa Junction, after the rail lines that met at the north end of town.  Today, wine from some of Northern California’s best-known wineries flows out of the area via freight rail.

The connection between freight trains and wine is driving economic development.  The area’s production of about 30 million cases of wine per year creates jobs in bottling, packaging, distribution facilities, warehouses, and boutique winemaking.  A growing focus on transporting wine efficiently and environmentally has led to greater use of freight rail.

City Manager, Rich Ramirez said that while other cities have been hit for years with catastrophic police and fire services cuts, American Canyon has been spared.  “So many people do not understand the fact that if Napa wine is made, shipped, or stored, businesses in American Canyon play a big role,” he said.  “The boom in wine storage warehouses has been in part, fueled by freight rail’s ability to ship case goods to major markets nationwide.”

A prime example is Biagi Brothers, a Nationwide Transportation, Distribution, and Warehousing Company that shipped 100 carloads of wine annually about ten years ago.  Today, they ship more than 5,000 carloads each year on the California Northern Railroad’s all new environmentally efficient, American-made equipment.

The Jackson Family Wines/Biagi Bros. Distribution Center was recently built in American Canyon and will move wine by truck and rail, thanks to a newly built private rail spur that allows freight to be loaded onto rail cars through 14 doors on the southern side of the 650,000 square-foot building.  This distribution center is the size of 11 football fields.

According to Kathryn Zepaltas, Director of Logistics for Jackson Family Wines, the American Canyon site was chosen because of the city’s proximity to wine country, Highway I-80, and its access to freight rail.  There are approximately 50 people employed at the distribution center.

“Each boxcar equals three to five truckloads of wine and one locomotive moves a number of cars, so this promotes carbon footprint reduction,” Zepaltas added.