Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/528936
July 2015 WINES&VINES 17 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS C H A R L O I S C O O P E R A G E , U S A 1 2 8 5 S . F O O T H I L L B L V D C L O V E R D A L E , C A 9 5 4 2 5 P H : ( 7 0 7 ) 2 2 4 - 2 3 7 7 F A X : ( 7 0 7 ) 2 2 4 - 2 3 9 0 P R E M I U M A M E R I C A N O A K B A R R E L S Contact: Michael Mercer Nor th American Sales Manager Cell: (707) 508-5006 michael@char loiscooper ageusa.com both quality and image. This is especially true as wine consumers shed the penny-pinching habits they adopted during the recession and move upscale. The fastest growing segments of the market are $8 and up, with sales for inex- pensive wines stagnating or worse. The Wine Group, which pro- duces 60-million cases per year, owns value brands Almadén, Cor- bett Canyon, fast-growing Cup- cake, Fisheye and Franzia. It also owns up-market Concannon Vine- yards; its headquarters is at Con- cannon in Livermore. The Wine Group originated within Coca-Cola Bottling of New York during the abortive attempt by consumer products companies to enter the wine business. In 1984, after a leveraged buy out, it became a privately held company owned by its executives. It then acquired a number of wineries: • 1988 Corbett Canyon Winery • 2002 Glen Ellen Winery and Concannon Vineyard • 2004 Golden State Vintners and FishEye Wines • 2006 Big House Wine Co. from Bonny Doon • 2008 Almadén Vineyards from Constellation Brands • 2015 Benziger Vineyards —Paul Franson GALLO ON THE MOVE Shortly after E. & J. Gallo Winery bought sparkling wine producer J Vineyards in Healds- burg in March, the company acquired 642 acres of land, in- cluding 258 acres planted with vines, in Napa County's Pope Valley from the Komes and Garvey families, who own Flora Springs Winery in St. Helena. Pope Valley is included in the Napa Valley American Viticultur- al Area, even though it is locat- ed across the Vaca Mountain chain from Napa Valley proper and sits at a higher altitude. It is warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter. The company bought Cypress Ranch and part of nearby Pali- sades Vineyard; both come with reliable water sources. The new acquisitions are next to Gallo's 100-acre Sun Lake Vineyard. The vineyards are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot and Zinfandel. Gallo reportedly plans to use the grapes primarily for its William Hill and Louis M. Martini brands but doesn't discount the possibility of other uses. Altogether, Gallo now has six vineyards in Napa, including the 140-acre William Hill Vineyard and Ghost Pines in Chiles Val- ley, also part of the Napa Valley AVA. It also owns legendary Monte Rosso Vineyard just over the border in Sonoma County. In addition, last year Gallo bought the Ledgewood Creek and Winterhawk wineries and 500 acres of land in Suisun Valley, a part of Solano County southeast of Napa County that's in the North Coast AVA. It closed the wineries to focus on grapegrowing. In 2013, the top wine company bought Columbia and Covey Run wineries in Washington state. In 2012, Gallo bought 2,000- acre Snows Lake Vineyard in the Red Hills district of Lake County north of Napa County. At the time, 800 acres were planted, mostly in Cabernet. Lake County is also part of the North Coast AVA. Also in 2012, Gallo bought custom-crush winery Courtside Cellars in San Miguel, Calif., near Paso Robles and has con- verted it to its own use. It also bought 300 acres of vineyards in California's Monterey County that year. In 2011, it acquired the 62-acre Edna Valley Vineyard near San Luis Obispo, Calif. —from page 15