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22 WINES&VINES January 2016 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS M odesto, Calif.—E. & J. Gallo Winery on Dec. 17 announced its agreement to purchase The Ranch Winery, a custom-crush wine-production facility special- izing in both small- and large-scale wine pro- duction in St. Helena, Calif. The deal follows several other moves by Gallo that indicate one of the world's largest wine firms is aiming for a bigger share of pre- mium California wine production. Gallo acquired J Vineyards & Winery in March, Asti Winery in July and Talbott Vineyards' winery and 500 vineyard acres in Monterey County in August. Located within 15 miles of Gallo's Louis M. Martini and William Hill wineries, The Ranch Winery spans more than 70 acres and includes a winery capable of crushing 30,000 tons of grapes, according to Gallo. By acquiring The Ranch facility, Gallo triples its crush capacity in Napa County and becomes one of the largest producers in Napa Valley. The Ranch is permitted for 12.52 million gallons; Martini has a permit for 2 million gal- lons, and William Hill is permitted for 720,000 gallons. About half of William Hill's permitted production is subject to the county's "75% rule," which requires three-fourths of total production to be from county grapes. Neither The Ranch nor Martini is subject to the rule because both wineries predated its adoption. The acquisition also includes 4.6 million cases of bottling capacity and approximately 8 million gallons of wine storage. As part of the sales agreement, Gallo will honor all existing custom-crush contracts, and a company spokesman said it plans to continue offering custom-crush services in the future. "We expect to continue offering custom crush and bottling services in balance with our own production needs," said Lon Gallagher of Gallo brand public relations. Gallagher said it was too early to say which of the company's brands would be produced at The Ranch or if it plans to shift any of its existing production to the newly acquired win- ery. He said Gallo plans to interview Ranch employees who have expressed an interest in working for Gallo after the acquisition. The Trinchero family built the winery in 1983 to support the exponential growth of Sutter Home white Zinfandel. The family later sold it in 2007 to vintner Joel Gott and partners. Gott and his partners created a facility to support large custom-crush clients as well as a place for enterprising vintners to start making wine. The Ranch offered full-service custom crush as well as "wine studios" in which bonded wineries could set up their own equipment in 2,100-square-foot spaces. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale was scheduled to close Dec. 31, 2015. —Andrew Adams Gallo to Buy The Ranch Winery in Napa The Ranch can crush 30,000 tons of grapes at full production.