Thomas Alexander, President – CEO California Concentrate Co. was born in Lodi California in 1957, raised in a farming community by a family of grape growers and winemakers. To this day, he lives within 5 miles of the home in which he was raised. After attending country schools in the Lodi area he graduated from Lodi High School in 1975, and went onto study at Sacramento State University, UC Davis, and the University of the Pacific where he studied Organic Chemistry, Botany, Food Science and Enology. In 1980, he began what would be a lifelong process of never ending upgrades and expansion, adding new products and advanced technology to the California Concentrate facility. Per Tom, “In the beginning we were just producing grape juice during grape season and a red and white grape concentrate that would be sold in Canada. Many changes have taken place over the last 40 years, the plant itself has grown from 5 acres to over 60 acres at present.”
“My family started in the wine business in the 30’s selling jug wine during prohibition days to neighbors and farm workers in the surrounding area. After that we went to selling grape juice to home winemakers all over northern California. Grape Concentrate is our main commodity and we have become very good at what we produce, the majority of which goes into the wine industry in the United States. We still continue to grow our own grapes for the operation but we maintain relationships with growers in the Lodi area to insure good quality fruit year after year.”
Tom has worked hard to promote the family business in a positive way all over the world, “I always try to give credit where credit is due and we mainly service the wine industry. Over the years as the US wine industry has grown we have been blessed with good fortune and a wonderful life. It is our goal to move forward and be environmentally friendly with safe products. We will do our best to insure our products are as health conscious and environmentally safe as possible.”
Now, the family is returning to its roots. “Essence Wines came about in a management meeting one day. As a team, we were discussing some of our PNF products, which are fruit and concentrate based products we make for the food and beverage industry. Someone at the table said, ‘Why don’t we make fruit based wine for our Asian partners using our fruit blends?’ and Essence Wines was born. The definition of the word says it all: ESSENCE - the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract that determines absolute character. For almost 50 years we have been producing concentrates from every type of fruit grown in the region. When you combine that with a long family history of wine making, it was only a matter of time before the conception of fruit wines happened. Essence, as the definition, applies to absolute perfection of an intrinsic nature: California wine combined with California fruit will produce a true natural fruit wine with rich aromas and beautiful elegant flavor. We like to think of our wines as the perfect combination of what California has to offer: fresh, perfect fruit and world class wines. They are sweet and sassy, with a rich, soft feel of sweetness with a bite of acid. The aroma is noticeable the moment the bottle is opened; vibrant colors encircle the glass as it is poured, and the wonderful flavors reward the palate sip after sip. We are very proud of the wines we have so far and the varietals that are soon to come. You can drink them chilled in the warm months and warmed in the cold months – it makes Essence Fruit wines the perfect choice.”