Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/754815
December 2016 WINES&VINES 31 THE BEST OF 2O16 QST offers its clients……. Professionally fabricated stainless tanks 35 years of tank fabrication experience Performance & reliability guarantees Custom designs & modern features Quick & competitive tank project pricing On site tank repairs & modifications Special application tanks of all sizes "In stock tanks" from 500 to 10,000 gallons 510 Caletti Ave. Windsor, Ca. 95492 Phone 707-837-2721 or Toll-Free 877-598-0672 www.qualitystainless.com Company Website winetanks@aol.com email contact/sales info Custom Fabricated Tanks for the perfect size & fit… or Ready to Ship "Stock Tanks" Either way QST is ready to assist our clients! Call QST today for information or pricing! QUALITY STAINLESS TANKS investors such as the teachers' pension plan to approach the company about acquiring it outright. E. & J. Gallo Winery was busy as well, buying 100,000- case Orin Swift Cellars in June. Neither Gallo nor Orin Swift disclosed the purchase price, and the deal included several brands such as Mercury Head, Abstract, Palermo and the company's tasting room in St. Helena, Calif. It was another big payout for Orin Swift founder Dave Phinney, who sold the iconic wine brand The Prisoner to Huneeus Vintners in 2010. And who owns The Prisoner now? That's also Constella- tion, which bought it from Huneeus Vintners in May 2016 for $285 million, another major deal from 2016. Jackson Family Wines (JFW) continued to pursue its strat- egy of buying premium estates in California and Oregon. The company bought 9,000-case Field Stone Winery & Vineyard and 30,000-case Copain Wines in Sonoma County this year as well as 25,000-case Willakenzie Estate, along with its 125 acres of vineyards in Oregon. JFW also bought the former headquarters of Evergreen International Airlines in McMin- nville, Ore., which will serve as its central Oregon offices, and the company is building a winery there, which they hope will be functional in time for the 2017 harvest. Woodinville, Wash.-based Ste. Michelle Wine Estates reversed the trend of Californian companies buying brands and property in the Northwest by acquiring Sonoma, Calif.- based Patz & Hall Wine Co. in April. "There continues to be an appetite for acquisitions, espe- cially brands that fill portfolio gaps for larger wine companies," said Mario Zepponi, whose company Zepponi & Co. in Santa Rosa, Calif., helped put together the Orin Swift, Willakenzie and several other deals this year. "They feel like they have to be moving up market with their acquisitions." Selling wine for less than $10 per bottle has become bru- tally competitive, and Zepponi said large wine companies also see consumers trading up and their competitors buying premium properties. "They are looking at what things are going to help (them) stay relevant with consumers," he said. "They have to be pretty responsive to that, or they're going to find themselves falling behind." Zepponi said he had thought the current cycle of acquisi- tions would be coming to an end by now, but when he spoke to Wines & Vines in early November, he didn't anticipate things changing much in the new year. "Unless there's some macroeconomic issues, at this point I'd say that 2017 sure looks like a continuance of 2016." "There continues to be an appetite for acquisitions, especially brands that fill portfolio gaps for larger wine companies." —Mario Zepponi, Zepponi & Co.