Hill Wine Debacle: Napa Valley Cab: $2.93/Bottle, $5/Gal

IMPORTANT NOTE: Hill Family Estate as well as William Hill Estate Winery, are not affiliated with, nor owned by the same families as The Hill Wine Company in this and previous bankruptcy articles.

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The Hill Wine Company Chapter 7 bankruptcy is stumbling towards complete liquidation via auction, foreclosure, eviction, and trustee asset sale.

That’s resulted in a situation where Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is going for $2.93/Bottle, $5/Gal. And one lucky winery bought St. Helena Chardonnay for $1,500/Ton on the vine.

How could that be?

The prices are snared among the still-moving parts of this insolvency circus including legal and regulatory issues concerning:

• The auction of 17,000 cases of bottled wine seized by Umpqua Bank.
• Approximately 47,000 gallons of bulk wine which Appellation Trading Company has agreed to buy from the bankruptcy trustee.

What’s more, a major payment deadline looms for Monday, Sept. 15, and one of the wineries involved has just been offered for sale.

CHAPTER 7 FREE-FOR-ALL

In a series of decisions following the conversion to Chapter 7 liquidation, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California has allowed creditors to invalidate existing leases and contracts and to seize assets that had been used for loan collateral.

The result has been a free-for-all scramble that left only three substantial assets that had not not liquidated: The bulk and case wine mentioned above and the current crop of Chardonnay in a vineyard leased by Hill.

Ominously, some attorneys and would-be buyers say they have lingering regulatory and legal doubts about the wine.

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Also In This Article:

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

• UMPQUA BANK SEIZES CASE GOODS — $24 NAPA VALLEY CAB AUCTIONED FOR $2.93/BOTTLE

• 47,500 GALLONS OF BULK TO APPELLATION TRADING COMPANY

• APPELLATION TRADING RUSHES TO HANDLE THE WINE FLOOD

• POTENTIAL TTB LICENSING ISSUES WITH THE WINE

• WINE: TOO RISKY FOR TWO-BUCK CHUCK

• ST. HELENA CHARDONAY: $1,500/TON

• 100,000 CASE NAPA VALLEY WINERY FOR SALE

ORIGINAL COURT DOCUMENTS

• Trustee’s Motion To Sell Bulk Wine
• Bulk Wine Purchase Agreement With Appellation Trading Company

PREVIOUS WINE INDUSTRY INSIGHT COVERAGE

• Hill Wine Co Bankruptcy Now In Chapt 7 Liquidation

• Hill Wine Co – Fireworks Likely In Today’s Liquidation Hearing

• Hill Wine Co Rushing Toward Liquidation

• Security Of Grower Liens Uncertain In Hill Winery Bankruptcy

• TTB Carpet Bombs Hill Wine Co With Felony Allegations

• Confused Hill Wine Co Chapter 11 Stumbles Forward

• Hill Wine Co Bankruptcy Snares Big Names, Big Time

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