Storied Carneros Pinot Winery For Sale By Vietnamese-American Billionaire

 

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A storied Carneros winery with decades of history is for sale, again.

 

The winery at 1285 Dealy Lane first reached national prominence in 1972 as the home of a stellar Pinot Noir when legendary winemaker Francis Mahoney founded Carneros Creek Winery.

 

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Things went rocky in 1998 after financial wheeler-dealer Bill Hambrecht bought into the winery and expanded it. Mahoney left the venture to follow his own Pinot path with the vineyards he loved, and his Carneros Wine Company.

 

A look at the winery’s licensing history (premium link) indicates that after the Hambrecht investment, it expanded into a substantial custom crush business and was then bought by The Mondavi Family’s Folio Wine Company in 2006.

 

In 2014, billionaire Kieu Hoang — Vietnam native and naturalized American citizen — bought the winery from Folio.

 

The winery is now being offered by Engel & Völkers for a hair under $19 million.

According to a representative of Engel & Völkers:

“This winery was one of the earliest to open in Los Carneros American Viticultural Area in 1972. The facilities sit on 19.73 acres of land, including a 12.75-acre vineyard planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The property features a 32,000 sq. ft. building for wine production on site, equipped for de-stem, crushing, fermentation, aging, storage, bottling, delivery, and over 200,000 gallons of available tank space.

 

“The Napa County use permit allows 100,000 cases to be produced at this location, with tours and tastings open to the public. Additionally, the pre-WDO permit is exempt from the 75% rule and allows grapes from other areas to be processed at this location with no restrictions.

 

“A few additional notable features on the property are a private cellar, office spaces, a tasting garden, and a tasting room with 1,600 sq. ft. of covered deck space overlooking the ridge line and Carneros Creek.”

Recent Property Transfer

This offering follows closely on the heels of a sale/transfer on May, 28, 2022. According to grant deed transfer tax information filed with the Napa County Assessor-Recorder’s office, Kieu Hoang sold the property to  Ego One LLC of Garden Grove. Calif., for $10.03 million. California Secretary of  State records show Michael Dao of Garden Grove  listed as CEO.

Previous (2014) Wine Industry Insight Article on Billionaire Kieu Hoang

CCBill Premium: Kieu Hoang: New Billionaire Winery Owner A Self-Made One-Man Conglomerate

Stripe Premium: Kieu Hoang: New Billionaire Winery Owner A Self-Made One-Man Conglomerate

New Tenant, Also Vietnamese Americans

 The property’s newest winery tenant is Ru Vango Winery. According to its web site: “owners are American entrepreneurs and philanthropists, originally from Vietnam.”

USPTO records show that Ru Vango is a trademark of Ego One LLC (premium link), which California incorporation records indicates is managed by Michael Dao of Garden Grove.

California ABC(premium link) records indicate that on June 8, 2022 Ru Vango Winery (premium link) applied for a Type 02 Winegrower’s license as well as permits for  Type 17 (Beer and Wine Wholesaler), Type 20 (Off-Sale Beer and Wine), and Type 81 (Wine Sales Event). Those applications were still pending as of September 27.

 

Those ABC records also indicate that Ru Vango Winery and the Kieu Hoang Winery are the only entities with valid permits for that address.

 

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