Robledo Winery: An American Dream Unravels

An American dream is unraveling in Carneros.

The story of Maria and Reynaldo Robledo has been an apocryphal American success story full of hard work and success: from sweaty, hard field labor to a hard-earned, boot-strapped place among the “first families” of a growing number of Mexican-American wineries and vineyards.

But now, a bitter divorce and a series of wickedly tangled internecine battles now playing out in three courts of law have ripped the family apart and threatens the Robledo Family Winery and everything else they have labored so long to build.

At stake are all the family’s tightly interrelated businesses — winery, vineyards, farming operations, custom crush, bulk wine, real estate. Once worth perhaps $10 million.

Then there is the family. Something beyond valuation by even the most gifted of appraisers.

All of it on the brink.

And while final chapters will take months to play out, inflection points are playing out right now that will painfully track the ultimate trajectory of this American wine saga:

• Legal battles in three different courts,
• One bankruptcy filed and another threatened,
• Divorce proceedings and,
• A pivotal hearing today on a big bank’s request for receivership.

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Also In This Article:

The full text of the following sections is available to premium subscribers of Wine Executive News:

• FAMILY ENTERPRISES DEVELOPED OVER 15 YEARS

• OWNERSHIP VARIES AMONG COMPANIES

• DIVORCE FILING ALLEGES COMPANY MISDEEDS
  

• LAWSUIT CHARGED “LOOTING” OF WINERY & OTHER COMPANIES

• SUIT CHARGES SONS’ COMPANIES WITH USING WINERY ASSETS TO COMPETE WITH FAMILY WINERY

• SPECIAL JUDGE APPOINTED TO ADJUDICATE DIVORCE & CIVIL SUIT

• REYNALDO ROBLEDO FILES FOR CHAPTER 11

• DUELING BANKRUPTCY PLANS: MARIA VERSUS HER SONS

• WELLS FARGO PUSHES WINERY TOWARD BANKRUPTCY
  

• LONG ROAD STILL TO TRAVEL

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