By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky
W
hen you imagine the place where wine gets made, you might picture the rolling fields of a scenic vineyard. You wouldn’t be wrong. But the industrial section of Bayonne, New Jersey, plays a unique part in the wine world, too. Senior director of operations Chris Russell greets me at Free Flow’s Bayonne facility. We don safety glasses, and he brings me out onto the floor with a warning about occasional forklift traffic. A boozy, berry smell hits me. “If you drink, this is the best smell in the world,” Russell says. What I’m smelling today is Rosé by Sabine, one of the more than 250 wine brands that works with Free Flow in order to have their wine kegged or canned. “We process our international and domestic customer’s wine,” Russell says. “We will keg it just like a beer that you would see if you went to a brewery.” You might be more accustomed to seeing wine sold by the bottle, but Free Flow is a company that is bringing wine on tap to bars and restaurants all over America. “I’ll liken us to the electric car,” Russell
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explains. “When the electric car first came out maybe 12 years ago, one person in your entire city had one. About 12 years ago, when wine was first introduced in kegs, it was the same. Each year that goes by, more and more people opt for a keg. The reason being, about 26 bottles fit into a keg. Imagine storing 26 bottles or one keg. Shipping from point A to point B is much easier with kegs.” That’s not the only benefit of kegged wine. “When it comes to the bottle, the cork is technically porous,” Russell says. “The enemy of wine is oxygen. As soon as you put wine in a bottle, your case starts to slowly deteriorate. When it’s in a keg, it never sees the sunlight. Your last glass of wine is as fresh as your first glass.” But the most compelling part is happening right in front of us. Empty kegs that have been returned to Free Flow are being processed for reuse. “For me, it’s the sustainable standpoint alone that gets me on board,” Russell says. “It is the electric car of how to consume wine.” As warehouse workers, Dvontaay Harris and Lamont Thomas clean kegs,
Brandon Syphrett fills empty kegs with Sabine Rosé. “Let’s follow the line,” Russell says, leading me along the hose that Syphrett uses to add wine to each keg.
THE SPACECRAFT It’s connected to a giant tank that stores thousands of gallons of wine. Farther back are more tanks that hold wine in the long term for clients who want to store it for a while before kegging. Russell explains that sometimes when shipping costs are low, clients will send a surplus of wine to keg later. Next, it’s time to see how the wine is delivered. Russell shows me what he calls a spacecraft. I don’t see any aliens nearby, but I do see an enormous version of boxed wine. Complete with the same type of port to pour from right at the bottom. “It’s 256 gallons,” Russell says as he converts it from the metric system. “We have a lot of European customers.” Despite being shipped in a bag, which is referred to as a bladder, the wine usually fares well on its long journey. Russell says that Jeff Orchard, the director of operations, has been with the compa-
