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MAY NEWS French American And Eastern European Barrels, Oak Add Ins, Casks and Tanks Bethel Heights Vineyard (above) is a neighbor of the new Jackson Family properties in the Willamette Valley: Zena Middle and Zena East. Nadalie, quality from forest to finish We Select our wood from the forest and process at our own mills in the USA and France All our staves are air dried and seasoned for a minimum of 2 years and up depending on your request. We control the manufacturing from forest to finish for every oak product we make, whether it is for Barrels, Tanks or Add Ins. Three Cooperages to Serve You: Tonnellerie Nadalie in Bordeaux, France Tonnellerie Marsannay in Burgundy, France Nadalie USA in Napa Valley, California Nadalie U.S.A. 1401 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga, CA 94515 Tel: 707-942-9301 Fax: 707-942-5037 www.nadalie.com 16 w in e S & v i ne S M AY 2 0 1 3 California Cash Flows Northwest Jackson Family Wines makes large vineyard buy in Willamette Valley S alem, Ore.—Millions of California dollars have migrated to the Pacific Northwest. Jackson Family Wines of Sonoma County, Calif., announced its purchase of more than 1,100 acres west of Salem in Oregon's Willamette Valley from institutional investment firm Commonfund of Wilton, Conn., on March 15. The development follows a second investment by San Franciscobased Bacchus Capital Management LLC in Joe Dobbes' venture Wine by Joe. Bacchus' investment, announced last month, follows an initial deal forged between Dobbes and Bacchus in September 2011 (see "Wineries Win Financing for Upgrades" at winesandvines.com). While the value has not been disclosed for either deal, the initial investment allowed Dobbes to upgrade winesandvines.com production equipment while the latest will, Learn more: Search keywords among other things, facilitate hiring of ex"Northwest cash." ecutive expertise. Meanwhile, Cakebread Cellars of Napa, Calif., recently launched its Walla Walla AVA-based Mullan Road brand, and the new Elkton Oregon AVA in Oregon is attracting interest in local properties from groups such as Frank Laurie Woods' family, a former owner of Freemark Abbey in Napa. The activity follows last year's purchase by E. & J. Gallo of Ascentia Wine Estates' Columbia Winery and Covey Run brands in Washington state. The spate of deals is driven by affordable assets and the long-term potential of the properties, said Mario Zepponi, a partner at Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Zepponi & Co., which deals exclusively in wine industry mergers and acquisitions. "You're going to see a lot of these bigger wine companies taking a more critical eye to investment opportunities up in that area," he said. "On a dollar basis, when you measure it against what you can do in California, it looks like a great opportunity." The rising prominence of specific grape varieties in each region—Pinot Noir in Oregon being the obvious example, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling in Washington state—and steadily expanding acreage also is driving interest. "There's not a lot of real big horses in those markets," Zepponi said. "They're big enough that they could come in and make use of all that fruit." —Peter Mitham