WINERIES Beringer Blass' Evolution of Asti Formerly known as Italian Swiss Colony,
Beringer Blass' Asti facility is rich in history. "During the 60's and 70's Italian Swiss Colony was California's second most popular tourist attraction behind Disneyland. When they built the freeway here in
1962 they added an exit for the winery," explains Carl Bogner, maintenance manager and unofficial historian with 27 years of service at the Asti site. "This was the first California winery to give tours and
tastings and the first to make champagne and they had many award winning champagnes."
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Knights' Electric installed this power and control wiring in the Pietro Rossi Red
Fermentation Room at Beringer Blass Wine Estates' Asti facility. |
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Italian Swiss immigrants founded the self-sufficient village in 1881, but finances plagued the winery through the years and it was sold
to Hubeline in 1968. Beringer Blass Wine Estates now owns the facility that no longer makes its own wine or hosts tastings and tours. "We produce wines for our sister wineries. We crush, blend
and age the wine here, we don't do any bottling," explains Lou Toninato, Operations Manager at Asti. Some of the "sister wineries" owned by Beringer Blass are Beringer, Souverain, Windsor,
Chateau St. Jean, Meridian and Stags Leap. "We follow the winemaker's recipes for the wines we produce for them."
Asti is a 40-acre facility with 36,000 aging barrels. They are capable of crushing 35,000 tons of grapes; 20,000 tons were crushed this year. The red fermentation
room is also part of the history of Asti says Carl Bogner, "This is the third or fourth red fermentation room that has been built in this same spot, it's called the Rossi
Room, named after the very first winemaker here, Pietro Rossi." Knights' Electric has done extensive work at this state-of-the-art winery including power and motor control wiring for the refrigeration system, wine presses, tank solenoids, and
temperature controls
for tank jackets. Knights' Electric manufactured 10 power stanchions for pump-over pumps and installed low voltage lighting in the facility.Lou Toninato, who has been with Beringer since 1973, started working with Bob Knight, President of Knights' Electric, 20 years ago. Carl Bogner says, "Knights' is excellent with their emergency service. We've had electrical lines down in the
middle of the night in a rain storm and Knights' responded in less than an hour."
COMMERCIAL Royal Petroleum - Fuel Service Deluxe The newly remodeled Royal Petroleum headquarters, located at 365 Todd Road in Santa Rosa is reminiscent of the bygone era of the 1950's gasoline service stations. The winged "Flying A" logo
and the retrospectively designed building speak of a time when uniformed service attendants pumped gas, checked the oil and washed the windshield while the driver waited behind the wheel and rolled
down the window to pay. Actually, Royal Petroleum does a lot more than an old fashioned service station.
They deliver. Their fleet of tankers delivers
fuel, oil, lubricants, chemicals and accessories to agricultural and commercial accounts throughout the North Bay
area. "We are definitely in the service business, that's what's made us successful," states Jim Dalton, who along with his partner Clif Hill, own Royal Petroleum. The
company also operates a card lock system at their Todd Road facility that allows cardholders to pump gas that is tallied on their automated account through the Commercial Fuel Network.
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Royal Petroleum headquarters at 365 Todd Road, designed by Disrud & Associates of Healdsburg and
built by Geary F. Rea & Associates of Santa Rosa. |
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Geary F. Rea & Associates, Inc. is the general contractor that built the remodeled
facility designed by the architectural firm of Disrud & Associates of Healdsburg. "The building was totally gutted except for the exterior metal walls, the roll-up doors
were changed to store front windows," says Rick Meyer, project manager for Rea & Associates. "Skylights were added and the ceiling is now much higher at 9 feet.
The interior is attractive and highly functional, accommodating all the administrative and field personnel components."Knights' Electrics' commercial department played a key role in keeping the card
lock fuel system operating during construction. "We had all the new connections numbered and ready when we moved the controls," states Art Knight, Vice
President at Knights' Electric. Knights' Electric also wired all the remodeled offices and installed florescent lighting. "Knights' personnel were reliable, dedicated and
competent," adds Jim Dalton, "They were very professional with change orders and trouble shooting. We had very little down time."
RESIDENTIAL Trilogy - Part 1, The Foundation Jim Murphy & Associates
have the foundation completed for a custom home they are building in Shiloh Oaks, a gated community in Windsor. Knights' Electric have
been involved in the early stages of construction, initially supplying the power for the home and power for the crews that will build it. "The power had to be pulled
from a nearby cul de sac," says Matt Sweeney, of Knights' Electric's residential department. "The trenching and conduits were completed and we pulled the power lines including phone service."
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Jim Murphy & Associates is constructing the foundation for a 7,000 square foot
custom home on a 40-acre lot in Shiloh Oaks. |
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Jim Murphy & Associates' project manager Cathy Iannotta is currently working on the overall budget for the 7,000 square foot,
single level home that includes a 3,000 square foot detached shop. Architect Daniel Martinez of Laguna Beach designed the home that features master and guest suites, a vanishing edge swimming
pool and water fountain in the back. "We are considering another water feature for the front of the house," says Iannotta, "I'm looking at the pricing for that now." The budget for the home is 3 to 4
million dollars. "The driveway, which is about 400 feet long cost close to $300,000 with all the utility trenching and a Gunite retaining wall."
The driveway leads to the existing foundation where Matt Sweeney is pleased to have Knights' Electric in position to do their best work. "It really makes a difference
to be involved from the beginning, we can stub out of the foundation and everything we do is recessed instead of mounted. Sometimes we get called onto a job later
and we have to do things like cut trenches through cement for the wiring." A 600-amp generator is a case in point. Knights' Electric is now able to conceal the
generator into the foundation floor instead of hiding it in outside landscaping. As this project progresses we will revisit the rough electrical wiring in part 2 and the finished ambient lighting effects will be covered in part 3.
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