Rancho Salsipuedes Vineyards In Santa Barbara County Sold For Reported $26-$28 million

Note: the pricing information comes from reliable Central Coast sources who informed Wine Industry Insight about this transaction on June 30. We did not report on this previously because we did not want to interfere with the sale.

The property had previously been listed by Pacific Vineyard Partners & Meriwether Farms.

The remainder of this post is directly from the news release received from the parties involved.

---

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(July 23, 2014; Santa Rosa, Calif.)— Matt Dees, winemaker of Jonata and The Hilt, announced today the purchase of Rancho Salsipuedes, a 3,600-acre property in Santa Barbara County, which is currently planted to approximately 200 acres of vineyards.

Rancho Salsipuedes has been producing pinot noir and chardonnay grapes from three separate vineyards: Bentrock, Radian and Puerta del Mar. Zepponi & Company, the global wine industry mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, served as the exclusive financial advisor to the seller and negotiated the sale to Jonata.

Reliable Central Coast sources say the transaction was in the $26-$28 million range.

A portion of the property lies within the Sta. Rita Hills AVA, a cool climate region ideally situated to produce world-class winegrapes. The combination of a purely East/West maritime valley, excellent soils and the Pacific’s cooling influence form one of the world’s best viticulture areas for pinot noir and chardonnay. The vineyards were meticulously planted in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In addition to the existing vineyard acreage, there is a significant amount of additional plantable acreage.

“The Sta. Rita Hills region has been the foundation of The Hilt since its inception in 2008,” said Matt Dees. “With its cool temperatures and diverse soils, it provides the perfect combination for some of the world’s finest pinot noirs and chardonnays. With the purchase of Rancho Salsipuedes, we have found our Sta. Rita Hills dream home for The Hilt. We feel the varied and unique vineyard blocks will provide us with a broad spectrum of flavors and textures to produce wines of depth, complexity and freshness. In addition to building the estate program for The Hilt, we also look forward to continuing to sell fruit to high quality producers throughout the state.”

About The Hilt

The Hilt champions pinot noir and chardonnay from the climatic margins of California’s coastal winegrowing regions, Santa Barbara County’s Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Maria Valley AVAs prominent among them. The philosophy of “growing in the margins” propels winegrowers to employ practices that enable grapes to show full transparency of site-key to The Hilt’s philosophy.
The Hilt and Jonata are owned by Ann and Stan Kroenke.
www.thehiltwines.com
www.jonata.com

About Zepponi & Company

Zepponi & Company is the largest mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that is dedicated to the global wine industry. Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, the firm has served as the financial advisor on numerous transactions involving ultra premium and luxury wine brands, estate wineries and vineyards, such as Kenwood Vineyards, Chalk Hill Estate, Murphy Goode, Valley of the Moon, Goosecross Cellars, and Four Vines, and has advised some of the wine industry’s largest wine companies, including Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Jackson Family Wines and F. Korbel & Bros. For more information, please visit www.zepponi.com.

###