September 14, 2003

A new spirit for Noyes Mansion — Beverage company restores downtown architectural gem.

By Kevin Courtney - Staff Writer

Plans are afoot to renovate the Noyes Mansion at First and Jefferson streets for corporate offices and a tasting bar in which wine plays second fiddle to a wheat-based product.

A new beverage company, Infinite Spirits, bought the landmark structure in July as the launching pad for its ultra-premium SHAKERS vodka, now going into national release.

Infinite's chief executive is Mark Bozzini, a Napa native who shook up the beer world in the late 1980s when he founded Pete's Wicked Ale, a national brand in the vanguard of the craft beer movement.

Bozzini, who sold Pete's to Mexico's Corona beer in 1997 for $250 million, hopes to repeat his success with a wheat-based vodka priced at $33 a bottle. He has reassembled some of the key players at Pete's, including the brewmaster who is now the master distiller.

Infinite Spirits, launched with $10 million in start-up capital, bought the Noyes Mansion for $1.7 million, Bozzini said.

The previous owner had planned to convert the home and carriage house into an upscale 20-room inn. Those plans were sabotaged by the events of 9/11 and the sagging tourism economy.

The hotel developer had been asking $2.7 million for the half city block, which includes a turn-of-the-century carriage house.

Infinite Spirits will restore the buildings and grounds, which suffer from decades of neglect, Bozzini said.

"We're going to do everything we can to give this property the loving care it needs, to get it back to what it was," said Kristin Metson, Infinite's communications director. "It's part of Napa's history. We hope to be part of that history as well."

If everything goes according to plan, the carriage house, which sits on Clay Street, will become a restaurant and tasting bar. For a fee, the public will sample SHAKERS vodka and other alcoholic beverages under development, Bozzini said.

The tasting room will also pour wines from Bozzini's Oakville vineyards. A cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon blanc will be released next year under his Warm Springs label.

The Infinite tasting room would join a growing downtown Napa wine scene. Dozens of high-end Napa Valley wines can now be tasted at nearly a half dozen locations.

Bozzini is a hometown boy who attended Justin-Siena High School. His father, Frank, owns a local janitorial company.

Although the Napa Valley is famous for its wines, producers of other beverages are finding a niche. Infinite is the valley's third vodka maker in the ultra-premium category.

St. Helena's Domaine Charbay Winery and Distillery has been producing citrus-flavored vodkas since 1998. Precis Vodka, also based in St. Helena, is importing a corn-based vodka made in Sweden.

The removal of the chain link fence that ringed the Noyes Mansion for two years was applauded by city officials.

A tasting room at the Noyes carriage house "seems like a complementary use to the other tasting rooms in downtown," said Jennifer LaLiberté, project coordinator for the city's economic development department. "It's certainly better than having it sit vacant. It's such a treasure. It's good to have someone caring for that building."

Frank Noyes, a Napa lumber dealer, built the Noyes house in 1902 and lived in it until 1956. The adjacent Bank of America was once the home's horse pasture.

After Noyes sold the grand home, it was carved into offices for the Napa Valley Unified School District. Later, it became home to an eclectic mix of offices, clothing and craft boutiques, hair salons and spas.

The Colonial Revival house, an official city landmark, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Infinite has spent $100,000 to rewire the 6,000-square-foot house for the Internet, replace old electrical wiring and clean up the place, Bozzini said. Turf was laid this week on the First Street frontage.

Ten Infinite employees now work in the spacious structure, with more to come as the company grows, Bozzini said.

To keep scavengers from looting more of the house's historical features, the property is now fully alarmed.

If Infinite is to turn the carriage house into a hospitality center, it may have to find additional parking, said Deborah Faaborg, a senior city planner. The hotel project had planned 23 parking spaces, with a valet service for special events, she said.

Bozzini, who would like to open the tasting room in 2004, said he will work on a parking solution, possibly in cooperation with adjacent property owners.

SHAKERS, the product that Bozzini hopes will propel Infinite to fame and prosperity, joins a growing market for high-end vodkas. Just as Americans decided a decade ago to drink better beer, today they are choosing higher quality spirits, he said.

Vodka, America's best-selling spirit, is a $9 billion annual market, with strong growth among ultra-premium brands selling for more than $30 a bottle. Vodkas flavored with fruit juices are also an expanding segment.

SHAKERS touts its American roots. It's the only ultra-premium, American-made vodka made from Minnesota wheat. Infinite is in partnership with Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company, a distiller near Benson, Minn.

Chippewa Valley makes ethanol, a product that has scores of industrial uses and is a fuel that powers cars.

Infinite created a proprietary distilling process to achieve a smooth-tasting vodka that doesn't need mixers, Bozzini said. "We've improved vodka's drinkability. It's cleaner. It's fresher."

In a blind tasting against two well-established imports, Gray Goose and Belvedere, liquor distributors picked SHAKERS as the vodka of choice, he said.

SHAKERS is getting a fair amount of press in trade publications, but doesn't have the bucks for a big ad campaign. Of necessity, the company will rely heavily on word-of-mouth, Bozzini said.

Reprinted with the Permission of Napa News.