WHO IS SILVERTAP?

Silvertap Wines started as an inspiration among friends. Dan Donahoe and Jordan Kivelstadt had experience on all sides of the business: growing grapes, making wine and working on both the wholesale, retail and restaurant sides of the business. Donahoe grew his own grapes in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley and created his own successful national wine brand: TEIRA Wines. Kivelstadt grew grapes in Sonoma County’s Bennett Valley and had extensive wine making experience at wineries in California, Argentina, Chile and Australia. Both saw the need for a better way to package and serve fine wine by the glass. A new idea for bringing wine to consumers captured both of their imaginations – the keg.
Jordan Kivelstadt & Dan Donahoe

“I’ve spent a decade traveling around the country meeting wine buyers and consumers,” says Donahoe. “There is an ocean of great wine in the marketplace, but most fine wine tries to fit a certain mold. I wanted to break that mold and create something innovative and original.  When I was first approached about putting my TEIRA wines into a keg by pioneer Todd Rushing in Atlanta, I thought he was crazy. After thinking about the possibilities of fine wine that never spoils once opened, and with no traditional packaging costs associated as well – I knew there was something to this.  Then, after seeing TWO Urban Licks for the first time I knew this was the future of wine by the glass.”


Two Urban Licks, Atlanta, GA
Todd Rushing’s presence in the Atlanta restaurant scene is legendary. A founding partner in the nationally acclaimed Concentrics Restaurant Group, Rushing is responsible for creating innovative wine programs throughout the US, all of which have received numerous awards and recognition. Rushing is responsible for conceptualizing and executing the country’s first large-scale wine on tap program at his flagship Atlanta restaurant, TWO Urban Licks, in 2004.  TWO has boasted 42 premium wines on tap for seven years – the first, and still the only, restaurant of its kind in the US.

The idea of marketing wine in keg initially came to Rushing while touring wineries in California, Oregon and Washington. He noticed that there were kegs in every winery he toured. He learned that winemakers store their “topping wine,” or, fresh wine to top off the oak barrels as evaporation depleted the wine in the barrels in these kegs. Winemakers informed Rushing they store their wine in kegs because the wine stayed fresh in the kegs for months.

At the same time, Rushing was working to make his numerous restaurants more environmentally friendly. “I noticed that every time we switched to a green technology, the restaurant became more efficient and costs came down. Handling trash, recycling and compost takes a lot of effort in a high volume restaurant. I saw all of those bottles in the recycling bin at the end of the night and thought, “This waste is ridiculous. Why can’t our wine come out of the taps, just like beer does?”

Kivelstadt saw the benefits of wine on tap from a winemaking perspective: “Winemakers are obsessed with quality control.  Nothing frustrates me more than going to a restaurant, ordering a glass and getting wine that is corked, too warm or has been open for too long.  All of that winemaker’s hard work is wasted when wine isn’t handled properly. Kegs are an ideal way to preserve wine and serve a perfect glass; every time.”

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  • MAIN OFFICE // SONOMA

    Silvertap Wines
    21684 8th Street East, Suite 600
    Sonoma, CA 95476 (MAP)
    TEL 415 626 1215
    FAX 877 346 4131

  • WINERY // SONOMA

    Silvertap Winery
    21684 8th Street East, Suite 600
    Sonoma, CA 95476 (MAP)