LVMH buys Phelps!

Interesting move…LVMH buys Joseph Phelps

Had heard this in a tasting room when in Napa at the end of April that Phelps was being sold. Didn’t know who was the buyer at the time. Price quoted was $300m. Take with a huge grain of salt since I wouldn’t classify it as anything other than hearsay.

Louis, Dom, Heezy and now Insignia. Congrats to the Phelps family. A lot of hard work paid off. [cheers.gif]

lol a CNBC announcement probably isn’t hearsay.

It makes sense. It’s an iconic property in need of stewardship. I view it as a known quantity at this point, it will be interesting to see if they can innovate or if they wish to maintain the status quo.

1 Like

Sales price of $300m is hearsay.

Another one bites the dust.

Phelps has a lot of acerage, iconic winery, eastern foothills. Would not be shocked at 300mil price tag

1 Like

Excited to see all of the mediocore upper midtier priced cab that will be coming from Phelps in the very near term future. Good opportunity for LVMH to ring some juice out of the Insignia buying crowd as well. Never ceases to amaze me how price increases for certain brands have little to no effect on the core consumer. Loyalty at any price!

1 Like

Caymus 2.0.

3 Likes

2.0? Think you’re a few OS updates behind the curve there…

My palate and wallet are grateful for that.

price of wines gonna go up. Buy now if you want them.

I’m seeing their regular Cab at $70-$80 locally. I’m not sure that it can sustain a much higher price.

2 Likes

They also make Dom, Krug, Ch Cheval Blanc, and Ch d’Yquem. I don’t hear anyone complaining about those brands.

4 Likes

Hmm. It’s been a wild last two years w/ Napa Valley heritage wineries purchased by conglomerates.

Used to love their Backus bottling when it was around $200/per, but now at $300+, its a pass…

Seems a bit odd to me. I didn’t think the Phelps brand had been that strong in the last couple of decades. LVMH usually goes after very strong brands. But I suppose the size and the vineyards appeal, because LVMH needs to sell products in quantity.

1 Like

This is bittersweet for me. I feel in love with wine on their terrace on my honeymoon almost 20 years ago when I tasted the 99 Insignia. Insignia was 90 bucks a bottle on pre-release pricing back then. Then came wine of the year for the 02 Insignia (still an amazing wine BTW) and Insignia pricing doubled overnight. Other prices crept up, but you could argue they were still value at times. The regular Napa cab has gotten better over the years (it’s now all estate fruit) but has more than doubled and can often be found cheaper at Costo or Safeway than the club price. Insignia and Backus are both north of 300 a bottle these days. Pinot’s over 200 a bottle, Chard over 150. The parties are a shell of what they once were (covid hasn’t helped). Then the lawsuits filed and won by the former winemaker and CEO. With Joe’s passing a few years back there was a real shift in the winery…it got way more corporate (and expensive). We had already decided to leave the club after we visit in the fall on our 20th anniversary, this seems a fitting end.

Really? I hear people complain all the time about the pricing of those brands. Just look at the board. Complaints (or lack of) about quality of those brands is an entirely different story as it would take a tremendously jaded person to take that position.

At the end of the day it’s a luxury good and LVMH is as good or better as any other company in the space of selling that product. I’m sure they will increase quality. I am also sure they will increase pricing. And lastly, I am sure I will be very happy to try the fruits of their investment/labor when someone else opens a bottle for me to try. Just won’t be on my dime.

But the above comments seemed more about poor quality i.e. Caymus.