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JANUARY NEWS Headlines NEWS BYTES Christopher Creek SOLD T wo Kings Wine Co. purchased California���s Christopher Creek Winery in a deal announced in November by Two Kings owners Robert Dahl and Dominic Foppoli. The 11-acre winery located in the Russian Bill Foley Adds Langtry Estate & Vineyards River AVA had been owned by Fred and Pam Wasserman, who founded it in 1974. The winery produces 3,500 cases per year of Petite Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Franc with fruit from the estate as well as a 27acre vineyard in the Dry Creek area. Dahl Deal follows purchase of Ramal East Vineyard M iddletown, Calif.���After announcing that his Foley Family Wines had bought the Ramal East Vineyard in the Carneros appellation as well as Lancaster Estate in the Chalk Hill appellation of Sonoma County, Bill Foley is buying a majority of the Guenoc/Langtry Estate brand, winery and vineyards in Lake County. He���s also buying a minority interest in the non-vineyard parts of the massive 23,000acre Langtry propwinesandvines.com erty in Guenoc Valley. Learn more: Search keywords Most of the land is ���Foley purchase.��� wild and undeveloped, but the current owner (Malulani Investments Ltd.) has plans and permits for development including a resort community and already has built a golf course on the property. No price has been released for the acquisition. Foley had previously signed a deal to market the Guenoc/Langtry wines. The winery produces about 175,000 cases of wine under the Langtry and Guenoc labels. Already owner of Sebastiani and Chalk Hill wineries in Sonoma County, Foley added the Ramal East Vineyard to support Chalk Hill Estate���s new lower cost Sonoma Coast wines. He also bought a majority interest in the high-end Lancaster Estate in Sonoma County���s Alexander Valley. Chalk Hill will release a small amount of 2011 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay into limited distribution in 2013 and introduce a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir with the 2013 vintage. ���When the opportunity arose to purchase a first-rate vineyard in Carneros, we jumped at the prospect,��� Foley said. ���This great piece of land will provide Chalk Hill with enough Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to support the growth we have projected for this new tier of wines.��� 18 W in e s & V i ne s JANUARY 20 13 started the custom wine company California Shiners, and Foppoli is the founder and owner of Foppoli Wines, Benevolo Wines Foley Family Wines Properties Region Case Vineyard production acreage Lake County, Calif. Langtry Estate/Guenoc and Old Redwood Brewing Co. Russian River Pinot is the Star 175,000 400 San Luis Obispo County, Calif. Eos (brand) N/A N/A N/A N/A 6,000 40 Napa County, Calif. Altus (brand) Foley Johnson (Sawyer) Kuleto 10,000 1,000 310 Foley Estates 20,000 460 Lincourt Vineyards 12,000 25 Chalk Hill 35,000 1,200 Lancaster Estate 47,000 Learn more: Search keywords ���Nugent Pinot.��� cling the history of the valley. Nu- 206 300,000 winesandvines.com 50 N/A ery in Carneros, produced a film chroni- N/A 130,000 Russian River Valley before recently selling his vineyard to Donum Estate win- 90 Merus J oe Nugent, who grew grapes in the 700 Santa Barbara County, Calif. Firestone Vineyard several of the region���s prominent names Sonoma County, Calif. Ramal East (Vineyard) Sebastiani gent interviewed for ���From Obscurity to Excellence: The Story of Grapes & Wine of the Russian River Valley,��� which debuted in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Dec. 1. Walla Walla, Wash. Three Rivers Winery Total 15,000 8 751,000 3,489 Last year, Jackson Family Wines paid $13 million for the neighboring Ramal West property, which included 197 acres of vineyards. The seller valued the Ramal West and East parcels at $25.6 million combined, putting the value of Ramal East in the range of $12 million to $13 million. Foley bought the vineyard from EPR Properties, which owned most of the vineyards affiliated with Ascentia Wine Estates, the now-defunct company that once owned Geyser Peak, Eos and Buena Vista. ���Paul Franson Garagiste Festival Garagistes Event Sells Out T he second annual gathering of selfdescribed ���garagiste��� winemakers in California���s Central Coast drew more than 1,000 people to the November event that raised winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keywords ���Garagiste Festival.��� $10,000 for the wine and viticulture program at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.