Since 2019, Bill and Carol Foley have acquired Ferrari-Carano, which continues to produce the Fume Blanc and Chardonnay in addition to more than 20 additional white and red wines.
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Who purchased the winery Ferrari-Carano?
Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery, located in Sonoma County, will be a new signature brand for Bill Foley’s expanding California wine empire, Foley Family Wines. More than 1,200 acres of grapevines are included in the deal’s more than 3,000 acres of land. According to Foley, the acquisition price is “in the neighborhood” of $250 million.
I’m an asset man,” Foley, who also owns the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team and 25 wineries, declared. “I enjoy visiting wineries, tasting rooms, and vineyards. I prefer to be in complete control of the winemaking process.” Additionally, he continued, he is running out of room to manufacture the wines he does now.
The acquisition also includes a number of residential units, a sizable warehouse, and two vineyard facilities in addition to Ferrari-land Carano’s holdings. One of them is the PreVail Mountain Winery in Alexander Valley, which has a permission to produce 80,000 square feet of cave space and 250,000 cases of wine year. Foley said they plan to increase this to 500,000.
Foley claimed that he had been searching for a winery that was both high-volume and high-end, a difficult combination to find. Ferrari-Carano produces 480,000 cases of wine year, and according to Foley, he intends to increase that number. Its wines start at $15.
If you are familiar with Ferrari-Carano, it is probably because of its Fume Blanc wine, which is another name for Sauvignon Blanc and costs roughly $15 per bottle. The inclusion of that wine as a by-the-glass pour in additional restaurants, according to Foley, would be the objective.
Don and Rhonda Carano, who owned the Eldorado Hotel and Casino in Reno, formed Ferrari-Carano in 1981. The company’s main estate is located in Healdsburg. They visited Sonoma County in the late 1970s to seek for wines to stock the hotel. They eventually acquired a vineyard.
With the acquisition of numerous estates in the counties of Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino, the Caranos expanded their company into a kind of empire. They acquired the John Ash & Co. restaurant and the Santa Rosa Vintners Inn in 2000. They bought Lazy Creek Vineyards in 2008, a winery in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley that the Carano family later sold. Rhonda Carano is maintaining the Vintners Inn for the time being even though Don Carano passed away in 2017. Foley added that she “tried to convince her to sell it.”
The Ferrari-Carano: Did it sell?
Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery, well-known for its fume blanc and Sonoma County chardonnay, has signed a contract to be acquired by Foley Family Wines.
Two Sonoma County wineries and 1,223 acres of North Coast vineyard land are part of the acquisition, which was disclosed on June 9. This comprises the almost 2,000 species-strong garden and Villa Fiore tasting room at the Ferrari-Carano Estate Winery in Dry Creek Valley. There are also three more tasting rooms there. Along with multiple homes and a sizable wine warehouse, the PreVail Mountain Winery on the east side of Alexander Valley is also featured.
Gerard Thoukis, chief marketing officer of Santa Rosa-based Foley, stated that the acquisition is anticipated to close on July 1. Financial information was withheld, however Wine Spectator magazine estimated the transaction value to be $250 million.
According to Thoukis, Ferrari-Carano produces roughly 500,000 cases annually. Before the sale, the Foley portfolio of West Coast and New Zealand wineries produced around 1.4 million cases annually. The Ferrari-Carano vineyards are spread across 3,183 acres in 21 locations in a number of North Coast appellations, including the Alexander, Russian, and Dry Creek valleys in Sonoma County, the side of Carneros that faces Napa Valley, Mendocino Ridge, and Anderson Valley, also in Mendocino County.
In order to provide premium wines at their expanding collection of Eldorado casino resorts, Don and Rhonda Carano founded Ferrari-Carano in 1981. In 2000, they bought the John Ash & Co. restaurant that was once in Healdsburg and Vintners Resort, which is located just north of Santa Rosa. Another Reno lawyer, Don Carano, passed away in 2017 at the age of 85.
Foley Family Wines, founded by Bill Foley in 1996, now includes the following North Coast brands: Foley Sonoma, Chalk Hill, Sebastiani, Lancaster Estate, Roth Estate Winery, Banshee, Merus, Foley Johnson, and Kuleto in the Napa Valley, and Langtry Estate in the Lake County. Brands outside the North Coast include Chalone Vineyard, Foley Estates, Lincourt Vineyards, Firestone Vineyard, and Eos Winery in California; Three Rivers Winery in Walla Walla, Washington; Acrobat and The Four Graces in Oregon; and Chalone Vineyard, Foley Estates, Lincourt Vineyards, Firestone Vineyard, and Eos Winery. Vavasour, Clifford Bay, Grove Mill Dashwood, Martinborough Vineyard, Te Kairanga, and Mt. Difficulty are examples of New Zealand brands.
Sebastiani Winery’s owner?
According to owner William Foley and Wine Spectator, Sebastiani Vineyards, one of the pillars of the Sonoma County wine industry for the past century, has been acquired by The Foley Wine Group.
Where did the name Ferrari-Carano come from?
The two bought a property in Alexander Valley, attended winemaking training, and made their own modest batches of wine. In the vicinity, they started acquiring more land, and in 1981, Ferrari-Carano was established. The winery bears his grandmother Amelia Ferrari’s name.
William Hill Wines’ owner?
William sold the vineyard in 1992, and it has since been owned by various different parties before being acquired by E & J Gallo Winery in 2007. Bill is a forerunner in the growth of vineyards in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Vintners Inn Santa Rosa, CA, whose owner?
One of Sonoma County’s top hotels has been named us. At her four-diamond Vintners Resort, Vi La Vita Spa, John Ash & Co. establishment, owner Rhonda Carano extends her gracious hospitality to visitors and wine lovers from all over the world.
How many vineyards is Foley the owner of?
created one of the most prosperous mortgage-title companies in the world, Fidelity National. But Mr. Foley also purchased a couple wineries because he enjoys drinking wine. That didn’t go so well, at least not right away. Ten years ago, Mr. Foley was, in his own words, “just a regular man with money getting into the wine business,” and the outcome was a predictable disaster. Mr. Foley amiably admitted to everything: poor wines, poor winemaking, and a total lack of monitoring. But recently, a lot has changed, and Mr. Foley now owns 13 vineyards throughout the globe and will shortly launch the Foley Food and Wine Society, a distinctive organization of dining establishments, resorts, and wine.
Mr. Foley had just returned from a month-long visit at one of his Montana lodges when we met up last month at Chalk Hill Winery in California’s Sonoma County. One of Mr. Foley’s more recent purchases, the Chalk Hill property is one of many that he is rumored to have acquired for dirt cheap. (A Sonoma winemaker confirmed to me that he had heard that Chalk Hill’s purchase price was equal to the value of the land alone.)
Was that a fact? I questioned Mr. Foley, who was sporting a very un-mogul-like ensemble of khakis and a tattered black T-shirt. With a smirk, Mr. Foley answered, “I’m a bottom-feeder. And certainly, he conceded, Chalk Hill had been an excellent purchase.
Who is the Chateau St. Jean winemaker?
As the legendary Sonoma winery’s fifth winemaker, Niki Williams brings a decade of experience from some of the most prestigious estates in Napa Valley to continue building on its rich winemaking tradition.
How is Foley Johnson owned?
Kuleto Estate, Merus Winery, and Silverado Vineyards are the other three Napa Valley-based wineries controlled by the parent company, Foley Family Wines Holdings, Inc. Foley Johnson Winery is one of them.
Owns fidelity Bill Foley?
- Fidelity National Financial was formed in 1984 by William “Bill” Foley II, who also serves as the company’s chairman.
- Additionally, he held the chairmanships of Fidelity National Information Services and Black Knight, two companies that offer software and data to the mortgage business.
- Foley quickly benefited from Wall Street’s SPAC boom because to his decades of experience managing acquisitions, sales, and spinoffs of publicly traded companies.
- He has sponsored six blank-check businesses as a seasoned dealmaker, one of which merged with payments company Paysafe in March 2021 after becoming public.
- The Vegas Golden Knights hockey franchise, which played its debut NHL season in 2017, was bought by Foley for $500 million in 2016.
Who purchased Chateau Saint-Jean?
In an effort to bring a well-known Wine Country monument back to its former splendor, ownership has shifted.
Foley Family Wines, a rapidly expanding conglomerate with more than 20 upscale wineries under its control worldwide, has acquired Chateau St. Jean from Treasury Wine Estates, a major Australian wine producer. Foley wants to restore Chateau St. Jean’s reputation for high-end wines as opposed to the budget-friendly releases that Treasury had previously pushed. That strategy is consistent with market trends for wine, which over the past ten years have seen the sale of more costly wines expand more quickly than the sale of less expensive wines.
The goal of the St. Jean project, according to chief marketing officer of Foley Family Wines Gerard Thoukis, is to restore the winery’s status in Sonoma. He didn’t give the cost of the acquisition.
The business has a talent for purchasing estates whose splendor has partially worn off. That was the case with Ferrari-Carano, the Sonoma County vineyard that Foley bought in 2020; it formerly had a sizable, loyal following that had decreased in recent years. It was particularly true of Chalone, a winery in Monterey County, which, despite being one of California’s top producers in the 1970s (and a favorite of Julia Child), had seen a slew of financial and wine-quality disasters by the time Foley bought it in 2016.
That approach works well with Chateau St. Jean. Thoukis stated, “Obviously, we have all read the data and are aware of the expansion in the luxury wine market. Although they may not be drinking more, consumers are improving their drinking habits.
We want to return to the origins and history of what St. Jean was in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, he continued.
In Sonoma Valley, on the heavily traveled Highway 12, sits the opulent Chateau St. Jean. The chateau, a sizable estate for this region of Sonoma, was constructed in the 1920s and currently contains a 79-acre vineyard, a 39,000-square-foot wine production plant, and a 6,000-square-foot tourist center. Richard Arrowood, a winemaker, played a significant role in the brand’s reputation as one of Sonoma County’s top producers after it was established in 1973. The 2017 Wine Country fires caused only minor damage to the property.
Long regarded as one of the best wines made in Sonoma County in the Bordeaux style, Cinq Cepages is its flagship beverage. The 1996 Cinq Cepages was the first wine from Sonoma County to get that honor from Wine Spectator magazine.
More recently, the winery has started to lose some of its appeal. It was initially bought by the alcohol company Diageo, which in 2016 sold it to Treasury as part of a larger deal that also included a number of other wine brands. The company changed its focus to more affordable goods, including multiregional California wine blends. Despite its size, the on-site winery hasn’t been utilized to make wine in a long time, according to Thoukis. Impact Databank estimates that the company produced 329,000 cases of wine last year, ranking it among the biggest wine producers in Sonoma County.
He explained that the current strategy is to bring winemaking back to Kenwood, expand the range of more expensive single-vineyard wines, and restore Cinq Cepages (whose current price is $63) to its former stature. According to us, the Sonoma Valley location is ideal for producing boutique, high-end wines, Thoukis added.
Foley purchased Chateau St. Jean when?
California’s SONOMA COUNTY, December 8, 2021 – Today, Foley Family Wines revealed that it had purchased Treasury Wine Estates’ Chateau St. Jean winery. Kenwood, California, which is situated along Highway 12 in the lovely Valley of the Moon, is where you can find Chateau St. Jean. The winery, which was established in 1973, is well-known for producing single-vineyard Chardonnay wines from Sonoma County and for its signature Bordeaux blend, Cinq Cepages, which was the first Sonoma wine to ever receive “Wine of the Year” from Wine Spectator.
The ancient chateau from the 1920s, a 6,000 square foot tourist center, a 39,000 square foot wine production facility, 79 planted acres of estate vines, on-site tasting rooms, and expansive gardens are all included in the purchase by Foley Family Wines. The legacy use permit for the winery, which permits 24 special events annually as well as six additional sizable events, including weddings, each year, will also be handed to the new owners. The goal of Foley Family Wines is to bring back the winery to its former splendor and showcase the finest wines from Sonoma County.
Foley Family Wines founder and CEO Bill Foley remarked, “This is a unique opportunity to participate in a piece of Sonoma Valley history. We’re excited to expand our luxury offering with Chateau St. Jean’s impressive selection of single-vineyard wines and its gold-medal winning Cinq Cepages blend.
Shawn Schiffer, president of Foley Family Wines, declared that Chateau St. Jean was a unique location. “Through our direct-to-consumer initiatives and guest experiences, we will be able to make the most of the historic chateau’s beauty and its high-end wines thanks to the legacy use permission. We are enthusiastic to invest in the estate vineyards that sustain Cinq Cepages and to refocus on the development of Sonoma County wines with vineyard designations.”
Three wine tiers are produced by Chateau St. Jean: the flagship Cinq Cepages, a Reserve Tier of Sonoma County single-vineyard and sub-appellation wines, and the generally available California Tier.
The wines from Chateau St. Jean are currently produced elsewhere, according to Schiffer. “We’re closely examining how to best maximize the Chateau St. Jean production facilities and eventually bring that winemaking home.”
Treasury Wine Estates Americas Company received unique financial advice from Santa Rosa-based Zepponi & Company.
Foley Family Wines, which Bill Foley founded in 1996, is a collection of highly regarded wines from some of the best vineyards in the world. The business has more than two dozen wineries around the world, each with its own unique wine style, history, and hospitality philosophy. The Foley Food & Wine Society also provides its members with access to a posh lifestyle network that celebrates travel, entertainment, and culinary adventures in France, Argentina, New Zealand, and the United States. 200 Concourse Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, (707) 708-7600; Foley Family Wines