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J ANU AR Y NEWS Flanagan Buys Vineyard for $4.5M Former owner founded St. Francis Winery Joe Martin, founder of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards, in a deal finalized Nov. 15, according to John Bergman of real estate brokerage firm Bergman Euro-National. Flanagan paid $4.5 million cash for the property, which includes 29 acres planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines. W indsor, Calif.—Eric Flana- gan, owner of Flanagan Fam- ily Vineyards, purchased a 56-acre ranch in Windsor from Sonoma County on the label. Great wine in the bottle. The journey from wine list or store aisle to purchase gets a lot shorter with 'Sonoma County' on the label. And it's never been easier to get the premium grapes you want to create the world-class wines people love. Rick Sayre, Winemaker Rodney Strong Vineyards flanagan's annual production is 1,200 cases. Flanagan currently produces 1,200 cases of Cabernet, Chardonnay and Syrah from the Bennett Valley appellation in Sonoma County, according to WinesVinesDATA. He told Wines & Vines that 23.5 acres are planted to five clones of Chardonnay at the new site and 5.5 are planted to Pinot. "We had a very small crop of Pinot this winesandvines.com Learn more: Search keyword "Flanagan." year," said Flanagan, who estimates the 2011 yield at 1 ton per acre and hopes to see 2.5 tons per acre in the future. "I sold about a ton of it to a friend of mine, and I am aging two lots of it separately. I've got about 10 barrels of Pinot in the building, and it will be fun to blend and see how they come together." The newly purchased ranch on Starr Road also has a 3,500-square-foot Mediterranean-style home, pool and ca- bana as well as a pond covering more than an acre. —Kate Lavin Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 23 Search Sonoma County's online Grape Marketplace for the best grapes around — from chardonnay to zinfandel and practically everything in between. It's easy, fast and you can start right here: SonomaWinegrape.org/marketplace