Wine in the News:
redwinebuzz.com brings you news from the world of wine. Our goal for this section is not to provide comprehensive coverage of an issue, but to make each entry a gateway to the complete story. The only exception to this is when we are the only source of the story. We seek out stories that are relevant and interesting - whether they are serious or not. Older stories are in our wine news archive.
To submit a story or bring a subject to our attention, use the links on the "Key Contacts" page. Citing redwinebuzz.com content
Foxen’s New (Green) Facility
Foxen Winery will be building a new winery and tasting room just down the road from the current tasting room at 7600 Foxen Canyon Road. The Santa Maria Times reported today that “Richard Doré’s plans for a new winery on Foxen Canyon Road, east of Los Alamos were unanimously approved (5-0) Wednesday [November 14th, 2007] by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission”.
Speaking with redwinebuzz.com by telephone from a tasting event in San Francisco today, Jenny Williamson Doré (Marketing/Sales/Press Relations for Foxen Winery & Vineyard) provided more detail on the planned development.
The new addition will be located on the 218-acre Tinaquaic Ranch property and just south of the current winery and tasting room (at 7200 Foxen Canyon Road). The 22,509 square foot facility will include: a 13,912 square foot wine processing facility, 6,500 square feet of storage (for the approved 20,000 cases annual production approved by the County) a 1,472 square foot public wine tasting and conference area with a maximum occupancy of 175 people and a 625 square food office and laboratory area.
"It will be done in true Foxen, no-nonsense, style. This will not be some fancy events center" Williamson Doré said. Construction of the new winery facility is expected to begin next spring. "We hope to have at least the crush facility ready by harvest of '08", Williamson Doré added. "We're keeping the existing tasting room, the 'shed', as the public tasting room. We'll eventually build an adjacent tasting room but it, again, will be done in true Foxen style: using recycled materials etc".
The planned structures will be "completely solar-powered". This is part of a broader "green" effort on the part of Foxen and includes: "solar panels on the roof, water reclamation, and we're even planting some Oaks" Williamson Doré explained
Asked if there will be any unique features to the design of the winery, she said: "The key element is a large, shaded area that will allow Billy [Wathen] to have a large number of small, one-ton fermenters". The facility may also include a gravity-fed system for wine production, Williamson Doré said, but was unable to speak to definite details of that aspect of the facility's design.
The Tinaquaic Ranch is comprised of four parcels. Currently, there are 10 acres under vine on the north-east facing slopes of the Solomon Hills. These are on the opposite side of Foxen Canyon Road and uphill from the tasting room. The current varieties are: 7 acres of Chardonnay, 2 acres of Syrah and 1.5 acres of Cabernet franc. There are plans to also expand this vineyard by some 5 acres of: "Cabernet franc, Syrah and maybe Pinot" - according to Williamson Doré.
Foxen Winery was founded in 1985 and is closely tied to this region of Santa Barbara County. Co-owner Dick Doré is the great-great grandson of William Benjamin Foxen - the English sea Captain who purchased the Rancho Tinaquaic lands in 1837. Wine maker at Foxen is co-owner Bill Wathen. More about Foxen
Wild Horse Winery among others sold to Constellation
Constellation Brands, Inc purchased Fortune Brands’ U.S. wine business for $885 million today. "The sale includes brands such as Clos du Bois, Geyser Peak, Wild Horse, Buena Vista Carneros and Gary Farrell, as well as the associated vineyards, winemaking assets and sales organization" stated today's Fortune Brands Press Release. Citing the wine industry as "lower margin and more capital intensive than spirits", Norm Wesley, Chairman and CEO of Fortune Brands said his company will "more sharply focus resources on the higher return premium spirits segment".
Located in Templetton in the Paso Robles AVA, was founded in 1981 by Ken Volk who sold it to Peak Wines International, a subsidiary of Jim Beam Brands, which became Fortune Brands' Beam Wine Estates. The winery continues to produce Chardonnay, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot noir, Merlot and Zinfandel from grapes sourced throughout from the entire Central Coast Appellation.
Fortune Brands, Inc is a diversified consumer brands company based in Deerfield, IL with annual sales exceeding annual sales exceeding $8 billion. It's entire wine portfolio was managed by it subsidiary: Beam Wine Estates. Constellation Brands, Inc is based in Fairport, NY. The largest wine company in the world, Constellation also is an international producer and marketer of beer and spirits with 250 brands marketed in nearly 150 countries earning over $4.6 billion annually.
Whenever a winery changes hands, questions about about the new direction for that operation as well as the quality of future wines. The recent article by Dan Berger offers some insights into past trends. It is not yet clear if, in addition to assets and infrastructure, the existing staff and philosophy of Beam Wine Estates will remain at Wild Horse.
New owners of Sanford & Benedict Vineyard
Lake Bluff, Illinois - based Terlato Wine Group has purchased the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills. The purchase (for an undisclosed price) completes the acquisition of properties originally developed by Richard and Thekla Sanford. The property is located across Santa Rosa Road from the Fiddlestix Vineyard and on the upslope of the Santa Rosa Hills. Adjacent to Sanford Winery’s La Rinconada Vineyard, it is planted to 66 acres of Pinot noir, 51 acres of Chardonnay as well as smaller blocks of Viognier and Pinot gris.
In a phone conversation with redwinebuzz.com this morning, Phil Rozen, Director of Corporate Communications for Terlato, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to continue sourcing fruit to local, artisan producers which include: Au Bon Climat, Bonaccorsi, Cold Heaven and Longoria. He added that Sanford Winery is and will continue being the recipient of the majority of fruit production at Sanford & Benedict Vineyard.
Robert and Janice Atkin, two of several minority shareholders in Sanford Winery after its transfer to Terlato in 2005, and long-standing partners in the winery sold the property to Terlato for an undisclosed sum. They could not be reached for comment.
Terlato, whose involvement with Sanford Winery began in 2002, owns vineyards and wineries in Napa Valley, Santa Barbara County, Sonoma County, Oregon, Australia; the Rhone Valley in France and in Spain.
Worthy Causes
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The wine industry is responding in many ways. Some have created labels specifically for raising research funds. One such endeavor is Cleavage Creek. Owner, Budge Brown, (co-owner of Tulip Hill Winery) lost his wife to breast cancer in 2005. The production consists of a lineup of 8 wines, sourced mostly from Napa, featuring the photograph of a breast cancer survivor on the front label and her personal story on the back label. 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the wines (200 cases ranging in price from $18 to $50 per bottle) will benefit breast cancer research.
A similar project is Frosted Pink, a collaborative project aimed at raising awareness of women’s cancers through sport and entertainment events. One such is the television show airing on abc on October 14th, 4 - 6 pm.
Fiver Rivers Winery has joined Frosted Pink with a program called Save a Goddess. This program seeks to recognize women who have “survived or who [are] courageously battling breast, ovarian, cervical or uterine cancer”. Additionally, the Save a Goddess program also seeks to recognize healthcare professionals caring for patients with those same malignancies.
Tell a friend about this news page!
Get the gear!
Get the buzz:
-
Wine reviews
-
Great stories
-
Interviews
-
Wine education tools
-
New content every month
It's FREE!
Click here
Get the gear!
Get the gear!
Home | Contact Us | About Us | Feedback | Search | Tell a friend
Copyright © 2006-2007 redwinebuzz.com All rights reserved.