Bello Family Vineyards Rutherford estate possibly sold (or not) at bankruptcy auction. Turf battles & new legal complications raise doubts

A companion article may be accessed at: Bello Vineyard sale pending brings lower price, possible issues with clear title to real estate

---

The Bello Family Vineyards estate property may have been sold. Or not.

 

The Napa Valley estate property in Rutherford, managed to make it through a shaky bankruptcy auction in August, but has found itself plagued by rancorous legal maneuvering that resulted from Nancy Bello’s personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

 

Nancy Bello is the recently-former wife of Michael Ru Bello whose WallDesign construction empire collapsed in the Great Recession that started in 2008. WallDesign filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012. That Chapter 11 proceeding resulted in a massive bankruptcy proceeding that engulfed hundreds of people and companies across the Western United States and has resulted in nearly 2,100 items in the court docket.

 

Indeed, the most recent item (as of the close of business on Sept. 28)  was number 2,097 and involves the circumstances in which Nancy Bello’s personal bankruptcy has roiled the estate vineyard auction and called into question the legitimacy of a pending sale.

 

Wine Executive News subscribers please click here to read the complete 1,500-word article.

Also In This Article:

The full 1,500-word text of the following sections is available to premium subscribers of Wine Executive News.

• Collateral damage from clawback process

• In divorce and bankruptcy, timing is everything: How the auction sale process spun out of control

• 2 courts + 2 judges = dueling bankruptcy trustees + auction limbo

• Santa Ana v. Santa Rosa turf battle royale

• Claws out in clawback clawback

• Drama continues in Santa Ana versus Santa Rosa Legal Smackdown

Not a Wine Executive News subscriber?

Subscribe to Wine Executive News now, and get the rest of this original article along with everything else on the site every day, including original documents, spreadsheets,and source materials for just $24.99 per month or $189 per year.

Previous Wine Industry Insight coverage of the Bello bankruptcy

• Bello Vineyard sale pending brings lower price, possible issues with clear title to real estate

• Bello Family Vineyards Rutherford estate property set for bankruptcy auction

• Bello’s SoCal bankruptcy causes waves in wine country

• Bello bankruptcy clawback victims strike back with their own lawsuits

• Yao Family Wines Buys Bello’s Former St. Helena Tasting Room

Wine Executive News subscribers may access these full court documents:

• McConaghy Declaration-Pacer2096

• Memo Santa Rosa Trustee Opposition To Transfer To Santa Ana

• Nancy Bello clawback motion

• Motion to continue hearing-092716.pdf

• Motion to transfer Nancy Bello to Santa Ana WallDesign BK

• The complete court approved liquidation document

• The list of 82 clawback victims in Bello’s WallDesign Bankruptcy

• Bella Casa Superior Court Complaint

• Abreu Superior Court Complaint