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will get the cosseting it needs and won't be shunted off to sweat in a broiling rail yard. Founded in 2006, Railex con- nects manufacturers, shippers and distributors using a mix of short- haul, consolidation/deconsolidation centers and an expedited refriger- ated rail system that keeps cargo cool. There's a five-day guarantee for cross-country trips and data are available to show that goods were kept at optimal temperatures. "Railex can provide this type of service and (temperature) informa- tion, where it was just never part of the equation before," McKinney said. Railex cars travel nonstop, meaning they don't have to pause to decouple and/or hook up, a process that can slam cases around. Current shipments allow for Cathy Corison of Corison Winery says there's no excuse for not farming organically in the Napa Valley. Photo: Michelle Locke there's "no excuse not to farm organically" in Napa Valley, given the region's benign climate. Mildew is not really a problem, although she has had to deal with leafhop- pers, knocking down a population explosion about six years ago by spraying with mineral oil at a par- ticular larval stage. A New Corison grows organic because, "I don't want my consumers to have pesticides in the wine." That goes for her, too – before and after fermentation. "When I'm sampling, trying to decide when to pick, I eat a lot of grapes," she said. about 1,250 cases per truck on aver- age; a railcar can take three times that amount, McKinney said. Rai- lex has worked with the U.S. Envi- ronmental Protection Agency to quantify its environmental impact and reports that since 2006, it has reduced diesel fuel consumption by 45 million gallons and CO2 emis- sions by 900,000 metric tons, when compared to existing truck transpor- tation. Railex has been shipping pro- WINE TRAIN Now, this is a wine train. Wash- ington-based Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE) and Railex LLC are teaming up to create a temper- ature-controlled rail-based system to transport wine across the United States. The decision came after care- ful consideration of the company's long-term growth requirements and whether SMWE should continue to manage the warehousing and dis- tribution of its products, said Rob McKinney, vice president of opera- tions for the wine company. SMWE has a portfolio that includes Chateau Ste. Michelle and WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM Columbia Crest Winery, in Wash- ington, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and Conn Creek Winery in Napa Valley, and Erath Winery in Oregon. The company is also the exclusive U.S. importer for Italy's Anti- nori wine company, Haras wines in Chile and Cham- pagne Nicolas Feuil- latte of France, as well as New Zealand's Villa Maria Estate. More companies are looking at train transport as a way to get off the roads. Ship- ping by train is efficient and, depending on the state of fuel prices, can be significantly cheaper than trucking. But for wine producers, the problem is being confident that their delicate cargo duce, but is adding wine with construction of a Wine Services Distribution Center next to the company's transload center in Wal- lula, Wash. The new center is huge, 500,000 square feet, and Railex is investing $18-$20 million to build it. SMWE has signed a long-term lease for most of the ware- house and is contracting with Railex to ship its domestic and imported wines throughout the U.S. Railex operates three dist r ibut ion facilities – in Wal- lula, Delano, Calif., and Rotterdam, N.Y. – linked by a refrigerated perishable-unit train. Two more are planned, one in the Southeast and one in the central part of the country. The Wallula center is scheduled to open in February 2013. NOV - DEC 2012 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT 15