Just curious are there buyers? It would seem like a great time to start a winery or to buy a brand if you have a long time horizon.
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Gallo was on a roll there for a second, but I think the current challenges of the wine market may curtail that appetite for a while. I understand buying low, but it would to be more of a hold and wait investment as opposed to trying to invest back into a brand to build in this climate.
Gallo filled gaps with wise brands. Not many more gaps to fill.
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outstanding point.
I think of the line in the Social Network- would you want to buy a Tower Records?
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Gallo recently sold their Washington State assets and have nothing from Oregon in their portfolio (Yet?).
Vinyl is back!
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With no plan to, it was a strategic divestment from the PNW.
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There are always Buyers but most fit into a few categories including:
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Established wine businesses seeking to add strategic assets.
These are the most knowledgable and tend to have very specific ideas on what they want.
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High Net Worth individuals seeking to get involved in Wine.
Many want to start with unplanted land and build there own vision.
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Foreign Wine Businesses seeking to add assets in the U.S.
Most are seeking going businesses.
There is little appetite for distressed or turnaround situations; itâs a lot more fun to build rather than fix.
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Strategies can change over time, but I know anything in Oregon would be a tough fit for Gallo due to lack of scale.
Thanks for your particularly insider perspective. A friend in the business told me last night that thereâs a lot of small Napa brands trying to sell under the radar, with few takers.
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Gallo was purchasing vineyards along with brands for the most part, not just brands without vineyards - at least over the past few years. Something like Laetitia might fit that bill - IF they felt the vineyards had upside potential.
Cheers
Because Gallo is a vineyard management company first and a Winery second. Value is in the land over the brand.
They buy far more fruit than they grow and donât have a vineyard management service.
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âŚand they buy strong brands without bricks and mortar like Massican.
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I see that Gallo is putting the Edna Valley property up for sale so they probably wonât buy Laetitia.
As I recall, Laetitia is divided by the freeway.Access to the winery is from the south. I guess access to the ocean side vineyardsâif there are any leftâis from the north.
I am not sure there are any vineyards on the other side - and if there are, there is no easy way to get there from the south.
And yep, Gallo is closing up shop at Edna Valley. Randall Graham had been using their tasting room recently for his Language of Yes label, but no longer.
I believe Gallo has a larger production facility in SLO so just consolidating things - no surprise there.
Cheers
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I remember somebody saying they could surf from one of the vineyards. Perhaps an exaggeration but they did have vines on the western side of 101. The worrisome thing for me was that they had fruit treesâgreat source of PDâon the property.
There used to be books and articles about ghost wineries in NapaâŚmaybe the Central Coast will get some as well.
Brian - I totally disagree with you about Gallo being a vineyard coâŚthey are lower-end consumer sales. The Gallo Sales teams own the retail shelves, and can push most anything with their clout. The recent success of High Noon is a prime exampleâŚand Gallo is reaping mega-millions from it.
Sure, they have lots of planted acres, but have yet to make any great vino (despite many attempts). Will be interesting to see if they can maintain/elevate Rombauer or other smaller labels.
This is sad news.
I love Laetitia. We were club members for a couple of years and really enjoyed their Sparkling and Pinots.
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Itâs not just Gallo, There are many companies and they occupy a strong space, much stronger than Vintage.