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14 WINES&VINES August 2018 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Younger Gallo tapped for CEO transition Ernest J. Gallo became the chief operating officer of E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, Calif., on June 1, a company spokesman confirmed, and will assume the CEO position in less than two years. The younger Gallo will transition to president and chief executive officer on May 1, 2020, replacing his father, Joseph E. Gallo. Ernest J. Gallo has 23 years of experience with the company, having served within domestic and international sales, marketing, new product development and finance. Gallo's most recent position has been vice president and general manager of the spirits business unit. Gallo earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and master's degree in business from Stanford University. Wheatley named president of Vintage Vintage Wine Estates (VWE) in Santa Rosa, Calif., announced the appointment of Terry Wheat- ley as the company's new presi- dent. Previously, Wheatley had been executive vice-president o f s a l e s a n d m a r k e t i n g , a r o l e s h e h a s held since 2014 when VWE pur- chased Canopy Management, the wine company she co-founded in 2008. Canopy Management drew on a social media network of nearly 500,000 members, called the Wine Sister- hood, to develop national wine brands such as Middle Sister, Mo- nogamy, PromisQous and others. Since VWE's acquisition of Canopy Management, the firm has acquired several other brands and wineries. Wheatley will oversee wholesale sales, exclusive brands, direct- to-consumer, human resources, marketing and communications. Winemaking, finance and IT will continue to report to VWE founder and CEO Pat Roney. Duckhorn acquires Kosta Browne D u c k h o r n W i n e C o m p a n y a n - nounced its acquisition of Kosta Browne Wines from private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates. The sale included the company, the winery, inventory and all assets including 170 acres of vineyards either owned or secured through long-term leases that include Ce- rise Vineyard in the Anderson Val- ley and sections of Keefer Ranch Vineyard in the Russian River Valley and Gap's Crown Vineyard in the Sonoma Coast. The Kosta Browne team will remain with the winery, in- cluding CEO Scott Becker and wine- maker Nico Cueva. The purchase of Kosta Browne will not include CIRQ, which was founded, and continues to be owned, by Michael Browne. The purchase was expected to close in August. Winemaking transition at Robert Mondavi Genevieve Janssens went from di- rector of winemaking to chief wine- maker at Robert Mondavi Winery and Nova Cadamatre rejoined the Napa Valley winery as senior direc- tor of winemaking. According to a statement released by the winery, Janssens will continue to "provide insight into the heritage and history of the vineyards, winery and legacy of Robert Mondavi" as she worked alongside the founder until his death in 2008 and then continued to oversee winemaking. Cadama- tre, who recently became a Master of Wine, will take over day-to-day management of the winemaking program. Cadamatre and Jans- sens worked together at Robert Mondavi from 2013 to 2015 on red wine production. Cadamatre also worked in winemaking at Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean and Chateau Souverain. King Estate names new COO King Estate Winery in Eugene, Ore., announced the promotion of wine- maker Brent Stone to the new posi- tion of chief operating officer. Stone, who has been with King Estate since 2011, will retain winemaking respon- sibilities while adding oversight for day-to-day winery operations. Stone joined King Estate as lab manager in 2011 and was later promoted to director of quality assurance and laboratory operations before being named winemaker in 2016. Shannon Ridge acquires winery Shannon Ridge Vineyards & Winery announced its acquisition of Nice Wine Co., in Lake County, Calif. The Nice Wine Co., located in the town of Nice, had been owned by the Lar- son family. The purchase includes a winery, bottling line and tasting room and enables Shannon Ridge to in- tegrate its production operations. "We are very pleased to have found our first wine production facility that gives us immediate control and will advance the quality of our winemak- ing operations here in Lake County," said owner Clay Shannon in a press release. Winemaking for Shannon Ridge continues to be overseen by director of winemaking and produc- tion Joy Merrilees. Measure C fails by slim margin Three weeks after Napa's June 5 election, the Napa County Registrar of Voters officially certified final re- sults on Measure C, revealing that the Watershed and Oak Wood- land Protection Initiative lost by 641 votes with 18,174 "no" votes (50.9%) against 17,533 "yes" votes (49.1%). The Measure C race re- mained a close one from the begin- ning, with both sides vehemently voicing their opinions. Those in favor of the measure believed it would establish regulations that would improve Napa's water quality and, thus, its agriculture — namely its vineyards. Yet others, including the Napa County Farm Bureau, Napa Valley Grapegrowers, Napa Valley Vintners and the Winegrow- ers of Napa County opposed Mea- sure C, calling it anti-agriculture. Canada set to legalize cannabis Recreational cannabis is set to roll out to markets across Canada this year following a vote by the coun- try's senators on June 20 that sets the stage for weed's legalization, effective Oct 17. Known as the Cannabis Act, the legislation gives the country's provinces and terri- tories eight to 12 weeks to prepare for sales of recreational marijuana, which will be sold through govern- ment-licensed retailers similar to wine and other forms of beverage alcohol. Some in the nation's wine industry have already announced plans to invest in marijuana includ- ing Poplar Grove Estate Winery owner Tony Holler who is launch- ing a line of cannabis products called Sunniva and is opening a 700,000-square-foot greenhouse north of Oliver, B.C. Constellation Brands Inc., made an early play in the market by investing nearly $200 million in a Canadian cannabis company in 2017. 2018 harvest coming into focus The early word on the overall California wine grape harvest is that it likely will total between 4 million and 4.25 million tons and may come in a bit later than normal because of what has, so far, been a cooler than normal growing season in the coastal counties. Leading up to harvest, the market for grapes and wine appears mostly balanced with larger wineries sitting on ample inventories of wine. See page 15. In California's Lodi AVA, Growers continue to seek higher prices for their grapes while the regions wines gain greater recognition and de- mand from consumers. See page 17. Early reports from California's Central Coast, also describe a cooler than normal season with yields expected to be average or to a little less than average. See page 18. LATEST NEWS More detail on the news at winesandvines.com. Top Stories The month in perspective Terry Wheatley