More Details On Russian River Vineyards Bankruptcy

News Fetch subscribers got the first look yesterday at the unfortunate Chapter 11 of Russian River Vineyards.

And today’s readers of the Press Democrat woke up to the fine reporting of Cathy Bussewitz who conducted interviews with winery Managing Partner Chris O’Neill and investment specialist Mario Zepponi. Among their significant quotes:

O’NEILL:

“When we took over a little over two years ago, it was basically out of business, and it was in foreclosure. We incurred a lot of debt in those first 18 months, and we just weren’t able to get out from under that.”

“We are not asking for any of the creditors or lenders to take anything less than 100 cents on the dollar.”

ZEPPONI:

There was a lot of hope when the current owners took over, but “unless you have a lot of cash reserves to start over with a brand, it’s really a difficult proposition to make it succeed.”

“They’re going to still need assistance from either investors or a joint venture partner or a buyer, to go ahead and get into the clear. I don’t think its symptomatic of what’s going on in the industry as a whole.”

Read the full article here.