I guess this is not a surprise to many in the Lompoc area as a) the owner has been looking to sell for quite some time and b) apparently they’ve been kicking tires for awhile.
It’s another move to go back ‘upscale’ for Constellation after the purchase of Schrader and Booker.
One side note - they also own Rita’s Crown, a jewel of a vineyard for some of the top Chardonnays coming out of the Sta Rita Hills. It’ll be interesting to see if they still honor grape contracts or bring everything in house as they expand.
Rita’s Crown also has Pinot. Something like 250 acres of planted vineyards between the two vineyards. I would guess they will selling grapes at least for now.
Some are written as assignable in the event of change of ownership, some are explicitly not. Some don’t say either way.
Many grape contracts are evergreen and even after termination, have a wind down period. Another vintage, 2, 3 depending on what the parties want. Some are just year to year. Some people on both sides (grower and buyer) don’t even operate with contracts (until they get burnt once, then they typically do).
Regardless, I’d imagine that if Constellation wants out that bad (maybe they do, but I doubt it), they’ll just say they’re not delivering the fruit.
I can’t imagine there’s a ton of love for the wines in the WB community, but I could be wrong! The style certainly doesn’t jive with my preferences. And while I almost always prefer to see wineries in family operation / ownership, this is one that really doesn’t bother me if I’m being honest!
I think they are very good, highly ageworthy Pinots. Recent price increases have made the value more marginal than the first 18 years or so.
What I don’t know is how this changes anything from the consumer standpoint. I never had any romantic or personal story about the ownership, so it’s strictly wine and price for me. Are either going to be affected negatively?
What has happened to other top wineries after Constellation acquired them? I know they became less cool to WB types (not really an issue for Sea Smoke which has long been fashionable to hate around here), but did the price or wine go in a bad direction?
I think quality has declined since the mid 2000/‘s while price has increased. The best of their bottlings was probably botella. For all this talk about sea smoke being California’s grand cru has anyone actually preferred one of their wines to even a decent village burg? I used to be on their list but dropped off maybe 6-7 years ago and sold the last of my as last year.
There is no wine that more universally is loved by friends and guests of mine who aren’t geeks, but like wine and have good taste. It’s one of the reasons I’ll probably always buy it, it’s fun to see how much civilians love that wine.
