Seghesio Winery sold

It was announced yesterday that the Seghesio family sold their iconic Sonoma winery to the Crimson Wine Group, which is part of a larger financial consortium. (They have Pine Ridge, Archery Summit and some others.)

Another family winery done gone...

[James Roscoe]

Can a family winery realy exist and make a profit in today's market? You would know better than I Hoke, but I would suspect there are few family run wineries in the top tier of the wine business in any part of the world.

Can a family winery realy exist and make a profit in today's market? You would know better than I Hoke, but I would suspect there are few family run wineries in the top tier of the wine business in any part of the world.

Well there's these two wineries, I think they're called Lafite and Mouton . . . .

Oh, I dunno, Ryan. A relatively small to moderate family-owned winery could easily survive---and thrive, for that matter---in today's market.

No, it wouldn't be easy. And no, it would probably have a given niche, or be cultish even. But I know any number of wineries with only a few thousand cases of production that are doing well.

The question comes down to what the owners want the winery to be, and whether they want to stick with it when the business goes through necessary changes as they grow. That's generally where the problems lie.

If an owner desired to create a winery (or acquire one) and keep it running at a certain level, without succumbing to the desire for constant growth as a necessity---then, yes, it could be done. But most wineries don't/won't/can't stand still---especially in this country and its capitalist culture, it's constant growth or death.

In the matter of Seghesio, however, I think it was more a matter of multiple generations being involved, and perhaps several of the family wanting to just take the money because they weren't really interested in continuing a traditional business any longer.

Can a family winery realy exist and make a profit in today's market? You would know better than I Hoke, but I would suspect there are few family run wineries in the top tier of the wine business in any part of the world.

Define what you mean by the "top tier," James. There is the California Family Winemakers' Association, in which you'll find more than a few familiar names. Let's start with Steve Edmunds and ESJ, Lagier-Meredith, Corison, Dunn, Arnot-Roberts, Alma Rosa, Qupé and Au Bon Climat. Those are just the few whose wines I pay much attention to, but I am sure that there are far more than these, some of whom are quite successful by any measure (e.g., Araujo).

Mark Lipton

Can a family winery realy exist and make a profit in today's market? You would know better than I Hoke, but I would suspect there are few family run wineries in the top tier of the wine business in any part of the world.

Well there's these two wineries, I think they're called Lafite and Mouton . . . .

In fact, Bordeaux is the European region where family ownership is most under pressure. More and more important châteaux are becoming owned by insurance and industrial companies and by non-wine mega rich, like Bernard Arnoult and Albert Frère at Cheval Blanc and the Rothschilds at the time of purchase, though the last have now been there for several generations.

However ownership by comparatively modest families is still prevalent in other top class regions such as Burgundy, Rhône, Langhe, Mosel, Nahe, etc. where the size of the estates is likely to be too small for corporate interest. French inheritance laws and taxes are certainly unfriendly to family ownership, which is leading to a trickle of the estates in these areas into non-wine mega rich hands; one Burgundy domaine (I forget which) was acquired by mega rich François Pinault at an over the odds price, which could result in the ratcheting up throughout the Côtes de Nuits and Beaune of wine land values used by the tax authorities for Droits de Succession (inheritance tax) purposes. I don't know whether the inheritance laws and taxes are quite so unfriendly elsewhere in Europe.

In Sonoma County, Foppiano is now the oldest family-owned winery. Dry Creek Vineyards is also family owned. They're both comparable in output to Seghesio, in the 100,000 case range. There are dozens of smaller privately owned wineries, many of which have managed to stay in business for decades.
It was a front page story in the Press Democrat this morning.

John

Last I heard Gallo was a family owned winery.

Last I heard Gallo was a family owned winery.

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!!!

K-J also.

Piper Sonoma sold too...>

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20 ... llion-deal

Piper Sonoma sold too...>

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20 ... llion-deal

Again?

Sorry to hear Seghesio has been sold. On my trip to Sonoma County last October, Ed Seghesio was sitting near me at Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg and offered me a complimentary glass of Seghesio Rockpile Road Zinfandel.

Sorry to hear Seghesio has been sold. On my trip to Sonoma County last October, Ed Seghesio was sitting near me at Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg and offered me a complimentary glass of Seghesio Rockpile Road Zinfandel.

Good memory to have, JC. Always liked the Seghesio family---and that Rockpile Zin was one of the major reasons Rockpile got an AVA. They made a damned good Sangiovese too.

Climbed up Rockpile vyd a few years back with one of the Seghesio brothers and he mentioned there was some Tannat planted in one section of Rockpile. I was wondering Hoke if you ever heard anything about where the grapes might have gone to?

Climbed up Rockpile vyd a few years back with one of the Seghesio brothers and he mentioned there was some Tannat planted in one section of Rockpile. I was wondering Hoke if you ever heard anything about where the grapes might have gone to?

Lake Sonoma Winery got some for a while, under Heck, but don't know if that's still the case now that that Napa guy owns the place. And Rosenblum had some good stuff from Rockpile, but they've sold too, so I don't know what the new guys are doing. So...guess I really don't know who's got Rockpile fruit.

What I had from Rockpile was some pretty serious stuff though---I would totally believe there was some Tannat in it---had that Cahors-ish rough and ready bit to it at times.

I think that the Seghesio Sangiovese is probably the best Cal Sangio that I have tasted, with the Unti Sangio a close second..while I have been a fan of their reds for a long time, I have also enjoyed their Arneis, a charming white wine, we bought 2 cases of the 2010 Arneis shortly before the sale was announced..Hopefully any changes won't be too drastic..Their tasting room in Healdsburg was a must visit for us when my wife and I travelled to Sonoma.

Mauritson farms a lot of Rockpile fruit and blends Tannat with something or other. Lake Sonoma never had Rockpile fruit to my knowledge. Beside Mauritson, Bella, Paradise Ridge, St Francis, Stryker and others use Rockpile fruit.

Mauritson farms a lot of Rockpile fruit and blends Tannat with something or other. Lake Sonoma never had Rockpile fruit to my knowledge. Beside Mauritson, Bella, Paradise Ridge, St Francis, Stryker and others use Rockpile fruit.

I will bow to your superior knowledge on this, Bob. Thought I'd remembered LS having some Rockpile but what with the state of my memory these days...

Thanks for the info.