Holy communion! Bonita Springs wine company donates inventory

Fifteen local charities are making a thankful toast to a Bonita Springs wine company that is offering a huge donation that will benefit the community. When the owners of the CRU Wine Club on Old U.S. 41 decided to shut their doors, they wanted something good to come out of the club’s demise.

“We have a large inventory of our wines that are produced in Sonoma, California, and we thought the best way to go about it is to donate the line,” said Jerry Cassata who helped run the club with his brother. “At first, we thought if we could find a national charity. We could get rid of all the wine at one time, but that is not as easy as it sounds. When you go to a national organization the people in need don’t get as much as they should get because there is a lot of overhead, but 660 cases is too much for any one small charity and so we thought it would be better to donate to many local charities. They have goals they have to meet and we can raise that level of donation up a notch.”

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The club has 660 cases, with 12 bottles to a case, to donate. Each bottle is valued at $45 to $60.

“This is very high-quality wine,” Cassata said. “There are a lot of very good local organizations. Going to the local community was the next logical step. You have been ravaged from a hurricane. Some have not recovered business wise from Covid and that must be hard for them getting the donors. We heard that a lot of charities have not had as much money coming in as in pre Covid. So, the decision was made to find local charities that could benefit from our donation.”

Cassata met Mary Asti, executive director of the Gargiulo Education Center, a non-profit program for the children of migrant workers in North Naples.

“Wow the kids are absolutely wonderful and it sure looks like they can use as much support as they can get,” Cassata began.

Asta then helped him identify other local organizations that could use the help too.

Susan Bridges, president of Center of the Arts Bonita Springs, was excited to be one of the chosen groups. She plans to use the donation at an upcoming big fundraiser for youth scholarships.

“The event that is coming up has wine lots and wine opportunities and this would be perfect,” Bridges exclaimed. “We could create wine packages with all these fun titles.”

She will also use the wine at an annual fundraising luncheon.

“When I heard of this, I was overwhelmed,” Bridges said. “I thought this could be the answer to everything. We never want to be in a situation that we are turning someone away. If it means giving them a scholarship, we do that. If it means getting them supplies, we do that. We are really great at all those thigs. This will help us. This is going to be perfect. I am really excited about it.”

Kale DeKoff, a volunteer with Shy Wolf Sanctuary, said the donation will be used for silent auctions that raise money for the organization.

“If something is phenomenal like this, it makes a good fundraiser,” DeKoff explained.

Gentlemen Against Domestic Violence, a fundraising group for the women’s and children’s shelter, is another recipient of the wine.

“The shelter hosts lots of events and I know they could use it either as something to give away to donors or as part of an auction to raise money for the shelter,” said volunteer, Paul Kuveke.

Each group will get between 20 and 60 cases or wine.

“To have this opportunity is exciting,” said Gloria Padilla, community relations manager for RCMA (Redland Christian Migrant Association). “It’s just exciting to be one of the agencies picked for this.”

“I am still in awe that this wonderful man is donating. What a blessing it is,” added Bettina Nugent, a volunteer with the local St. Vincent de Paul.

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She said some of the wine will be used at a holiday party to thank all the volunteers.

Taste of Immokalee, a youth entrepreneurship program where teens learn to run a successful business that they use to give back to the community, is another recipient. They plan to use the wine at their masquerade gala in January.

“We intend to auction it off and also place one on each table and people can bid on it to raise money for our organization,” said executive director, Marie Capita. “I was very happy when I heard about this. Of course, we can use it.”

Garguilos will be getting about 60 cases that Asta plans to use in a variety of ways. She will use some to thank donors, some at a wine tasting event at Cypress Woods where participants will then pledge to buy holiday gifts for the migrant children and their families and as an auction package during the annual gala fundraising event in March.

“Thank you very much your generosity. It is very humbling and we are very grateful,” Asta told Cassata.

This past week representatives of the charities were invited to CRU for a wine tasting and to learn more about the vineyards, the wine and the donation.

Dan Dau, a sommelier (wine expert), told the group how special the wines are.

“These wines are incredibly unique,” he began. “It is wine that is made at the top level.”

Cassata told the group about the family’s 80-acre vineyard in Glen Ellen, California, where 20 acres are used to grow grapes on the hillsides. The farm is known for its bio sustainable farming. He said it is all about soil, plants and animals working together to grow grapes without chemicals. Cassata spoke about growing up in Chicago and making wine with his father. He recalled the tedious work pulling the stems off thousands of grapes. Cassata spoke about the seven-year search for the perfect piece of land in the Sonoma Valley that they finally found for their vineyard on a hillside 435-850 above sea level.

“We wanted the entire valley. We didn’t want neighbors that might use chemicals,” he explained.

The vineyard does companion planting with beans, poppy seed, mustard and more. Some of it is used by the families on the farm and the rest becomes fertilizer. They also use plant pollinators.

Although the CRU wine tasting club in Bonita Springs is closing, the vineyard is still operating and the wines are still sold at some stores in Southwest Florida or online. But the 660 cases, almost 8,000 bottles of wine worth about $360,000, from the club will all be donated.

“My brother Tom doesn’t expect anything in return,” Cassata concluded. “He just wants to know that you benefit from the donation.”

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Holy communion! Bonita Springs wine company donates inventory