This is Constellation’s first purchase in Oregon.
I’ve never had their wines, but good for Larry. He’s taken a unique path to get to this point. A lot of hard work, and he kind of put all his eggs in this basket. Hopefully it’s worked out for him.
I’ve enjoyed the Lingua Franca I’ve had. The Pinot is very drinkable and the chard is a classic new world chard with a good balance of oaky creaminess that pairs well with butter sauces.
"Stone originally sought new investors in 2019 to expand Lingua Franca’s hospitality and direct-to-consumer business at the winery. Then came the one-two punch of COVID-19 and wildfires in 2020. “We decided not to bottle wine in 2020 because of smoke damage,” Stone told Wine Spectator. That lost revenue was a blow. “Not only did we need partners to expand, but also to continue to operate at the level we had been at.”
Justina Meyer used to say there was no money in selling wine, but lots in selling wineries…so I hope Larry is one rich mofo.
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Usually they are after selling to Constellation.
I texted Seth Long, since he had been working out of their facility. He’s moved out and now at Mike Etzel’s facility in Ribbon Ridge.
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Do you think Seth moved because Constellation is kicking out of the renters or he could see the writing on the wall? I’ll have to visit him at his new place when we go to Oregon next month and pick up my wines.
I didn’t ask
I would guess him and his partners had some pretty big loans to pay for that large facility they built. Probably most of the money went to repay his lenders.
Did anyone notice Jason Lett’s cryptic tweet? I presume in response to this sale.
https://twitter.com/JasonLett/status/1512538488175955978?cxt=HHwWlMCsjbjvzv0pAAAA
I wonder how the purchasers thought about the risk of future smoke taint in vintages to come. It seems to me that is difficult to predict, unlikely to be insurable, and - if anything - rising.
Is the risk worse or better in Oregon??
Napa has been hit by a lot of smoke too.
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According to meteorologists, what happened in Oregon in 2020 was a once in 500 years event. The main fires effecting the wine crop covered well over 650 square miles. If it happened regularly, we wouldn’t any forests left.
In the past 15 years, smoke events affecting wines have happened more frequently in northern California than Oregon, although the potentially affected vineyard areas in CA are much larger and any one area hasn’t been hit all those years. I think Oregon’s bigger concern would be climate change effecting the growing conditions rather than fires (same risk in California, obviously).
-Al
These ‘1 out 500 year’ events seem to be happening slightly more often now though.
Perhaps there has been a regime change.
If Lingua Franca is a strong enough brand, I suppose the Constellation empire can just switch out the grapes to some AVA where they have a surplus, adjust the labeling, and keep on selling the stuff though. Maybe that is an edge they have, that the small family owner wouldn’t.
Look at the Prisoner’s lineup - its hard to tell what any aspect of the wine+sugar is - vintage, varietal, region etc.
Well, we’ve had only had the one event in the last 200 years, and know of no recollection from the Native Americans either.
If it were to happen again in the next 5-10 years, there is a lot less fuel available to burn - we already burned up an area that is more than 20 miles by 30 miles - basically from the summit of Cascades to where the farmland starts.
I just don’t think this is nearly as big of a concern as it is in California for a whole bunch of reasons having to do with climate (CA is much drier - particularly in the fall) and geography (CA has a lot more burnable fuel surrounding the wine growing regions).
I don’t think this investment really says anything about Oregon that hasn’t already been said. Certainly sizeable investments by Drouhin, Jadot, Jackson Family Wines, Bollinger, and so forth mean more, IMO.
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Don’t forget Silver Oak and Santa Margherita USA. Minimal snarkiness here. The Silver Oak investment was a number of years ago, and the local winemaker is a good guy and winemaker.
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All of the custom crush clients were requested to find new space for production.
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It’s my understanding all custom crush customers are being asked to find other space.