U of I Caldwell incubator helps Idaho wineries grow award-winning brands

Inspired by summer trips spent teaching geology classes in Sardinia, Italy, one of the world’s preeminent wine regions, C.J. Northrup and his wife, Janet, dreamed of owning a small vineyard and winery.

In 2012, the couple bought 6 acres in Caldwell’s Sunnyslope area and planted grapevines. A decade later, they opened a tasting room called Famici Wine Co. The winery is a labor of love made possible in part by the University of Idaho’s Food Technology Center and Agribusiness Incubator, located at the Caldwell Research and Extension Center. The facility offers specialized processing and packaging equipment and educational assistance to aspiring food entrepreneurs, as well as space and support for agricultural enterprises, including wineries.

Famici is part of a small but accomplished group of southwest Idaho wineries, including Hat Ranch Winery and Veer Wine Project, using the U of I facility’s refrigerated bays to ferment, press, age and bottle vintages. A few other Idaho labels contract with Veer to make some of their wine and one large Idaho winery, Huston Vineyards, relies on the incubator for temperature-controlled storage of finished products, further extending the Caldwell facility’s influence on the industry.

Northrup, a Boise State University geosciences professor, acknowledges it may take several more years before the venture becomes profitable. In terms of quality, however, he and Janet are already making wines that rival some of the Pacific Northwest’s biggest names.

At the 2026 Pacific Northwest Wine Competition, which included 644 entries, Famici earned, along with five gold medals and one silver, six double-gold medals, awarded when the judges make a unanimous decision. Famici was also recognized as having the top white wine and rosé in the 2026 Idaho Wine Competition.

“It’s good validation that we’re doing the work in the vineyard and the winery to make wines of high quality,” Northrup said of the accolades. “Our winery wouldn’t exist without the Food Technology Center. If that space wasn’t available, it would be virtually impossible for people of regular means to be able to do this kind of thing.”

Famiglia

Northrup created the name Famici by combining two Italian words: “famiglia,” meaning family, and “amici,” meaning friends.

Along with customers and employees, he and Janet consider U of I’s Caldwell staff and many of their fellow Idaho winemakers part of the extended Famici family. When it’s time to make wine, he and Janet work shoulder to shoulder with the other winemakers who use the incubator, exchanging advice, sharing equipment and rooting for each other’s success.

Furthermore, Famici is part of the Sunnyslope Wine Trail, which is an organization of local wineries that collaborate on marketing and host an annual wine festival in September.

Hat Ranch holds a lease with the Agribusiness Incubator and now subleases space and equipment to Famici.

Today, Famici produces roughly 1,200 cases of wine per year, sourcing about half of the grapes from its own vineyard. Famici sells the bulk of its wine directly to customers at its tasting room, located beside the vineyard at 21067 Hoskins Road. They’ve just begun selling wine through local restaurants and shops.

“We have this small but tight-knit community of people who are growing grapes and making wine and learning from one another,” Northrup said. “We are competitors, but we’re still part of the same team.”

Veer Wine Project owner and winemaker Will Wetmore got his start as an assistant winemaker for Hat Ranch. He and Northrup both use Hat Ranch’s press and other equipment in their own operations.

Wetmore started his own brand in 2016 and opened a tasting room at 4338 W. Chinden Blvd. in Garden City in 2024.

He produces about 2,500 cases annually, selling wine through restaurants, food cooperatives, grocery stores and his tasting room. His wine claimed best in show at the Cascadia Wine Competition in 2023 and 2024, as well as best in show at the Idaho Wine Competition in 2024.

While Veer Wine Project is not yet highly profitable, Wetmore earns a living producing wine for other Idaho wineries at the Agribusiness Incubator.

“A lot of winemakers will come to the center to use the equipment,” Wetmore said. “You learn a lot by watching other winemakers work.”

Wetmore continues to make wine on behalf of Hat Ranch. He also produces roughly three-quarters of the wine sold by Kerry Hill Winery in Wilder. Kerry Hill’s owner, Mindy Mayer, has 40 acres of vines and a tasting room she built in 2007.

“I’ve won a lot of awards, too, from wines that Will has made,” Mayer said.

Creating opportunities

U of I opened the Food Technology Center and Agribusiness Incubator in the early 2000s in a former co-packing facility.

Over the years, the center has helped launch numerous food businesses producing everything from sauces and marinades made with locally sourced ingredients to hummus created from northern Idaho chickpeas.

Prior to using its facilities, Food Technology Center clients are required to take a class on food safety, product development and business scaling. The center subsidizes rates for food-business clients with revenue it generates by doing specialized work for the agricultural chemical industry. It’s one of only two facilities in the nation simulating commercial food processing on a small scale, sending finished products to laboratories that test for trace levels of agricultural chemical residues that could remain in food.

The Agribusiness Incubator also houses six refrigerated bays, which have been used predominately for wine and granola production. The Caldwell location has supported Idaho wineries since 2010.

“We’re advancing U of I’s land-grant mission by creating opportunities for Idaho’s food and agriculture industry,” said Josh Bevan, director of the Food Technology Center and Agribusiness Incubator. “For several of these wineries, access to affordable space and shared infrastructure has made the difference between having a good idea and being able to turn it into a business.”

Small but mighty

Southwest Idaho possesses many of the characteristics associated with successful wine-growing regions.

It lies on the 43rd parallel north, which passes through several regions that are synonymous with world-class wine, such as Tuscany, Italy, Catalonia, Spain, and Central Otago, New Zealand. The Treasure Valley’s volcanic soils are rich in nutrients and drain well, supporting deep roots that are free of rot. Its warm days and cool nights are conducive to raising quality grapes, and its dry climate and access to irrigation allow producers to stress the grapes just enough to develop a complex flavor profile.

Idaho’s wine industry has grown significantly in recent years. In 2008, the state had just 38 wineries. Today, Idaho boasts 65 wineries and 1,300 acres of planted vineyards, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nonetheless, Idaho viticulture remains tiny compared with Washington, which has 985 wineries and 35,000 planted vineyard acres, and Oregon, which has 1,076 wineries and 47,343 planted vineyard acres.

Though Idaho can’t compete with its neighbors in terms of scale, the state’s winemakers have the awards to demonstrate they’re earning a reputation for excellence.

Gregg Alger, owner of Huston Vineyards at 16473 Chicken Dinner Road in Caldwell, believes U of I’s Caldwell location has played an important role in the growth and maturation of Idaho’s wine industry. Huston, which was Great Northwest Wine’s Idaho Winery of the year in 2023, raises 175 acres of grapes and produces about 10,000 cases of wine per year.

Although Huston operates its own production facility, about 75% of its finished wine is temporarily stored at a refrigerated bay in the incubator before shipment.

“From a storage standpoint, it is an integral part of our business, because if we didn’t have temperature-controlled storage, we wouldn’t be in business,” Alger said.

His products reflect his appreciation of the university and its importance to the state. Among his labels, Alger offers a U of I-branded Vandal wine, featuring the university’s logo. He markets his Vandal red blend as being “brave and bold,” borrowing from the theme of U of I’s recent fund drive.

“The incubator has evolved into different aspects of helping each one of us as wineries, and that’s kind of cool,” Alger said. “It’s helped stabilize some of the smaller producers in the business, and it’s helped others expand and get a foothold in the business.”