What do you think of Sanford?

[Ken_Zinns]

@James Cross

Sam Leone was a good guy. I met him in person a few times and at several wine events in Paso and Las Vegas. He was living in Utah, St. George I think, which is a place many Vegas retirees gravitate to. He was very active on the old wine boards but got tired of the nasty tone and disappeared.

Is that Rod Schiffman over Wes Hagen’s right shoulder? Another Utah person, an IT guru who helped on West Coast Wine.

That is indeed Rod.

@brigcampbell

Is Richard involved with Alma Rosa? Kind of got the feeling he wasn’t when I was quizzing the gal in the tasting room. He’s definitely not the owner. They have a new fancy tasting room next to Industrial Eats. PN were OK.

As far as I know, Richard is still very much involved with Alma Rosa. The Grape-Nutz write-up from early 2016 that I linked to above has some of the info on the current ownership situation:

…in 2014 Alma Rosa was purchased by Bob Zorich, founder of a private equity firm who has a home in Santa Barbara. The good news is that Richard and Thekla have stayed on to head up the winery, and their daughter Blakeney is involved as well. They’ve also retained access to the organically-farmed vineyards at El Jabalí and La Encantada. As we talked with Richard during our visit, it was clear that he’s excited about his new relationship with Bob Zorich and the promise that Bob’s new investments in the winery and vineyards will bring going forward.

The current Alma Rosa tasting room next to Industrial Eats has been open for a few years - IIRC it opened right about the same time as the sale of the winery in early 2014.