US: Winery Executives Discuss Acquisitions

(Wines&Vines) - An overflow crowd filled the largest conference room at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek hotel today in Santa Rosa during the North Bay Business Journal’s annual Wine Industry Conference.

They heard presentations from prominent industry figures discussing mergers and acquisitions as well as the relatively new CEO of Fetzer Vineyards, which was acquired in 2011 by Chile’s Concha y Toro from whiskey producer Brown-Forman for $263 million.

For most attendees, it was the first exposure to Giancarlo Bianchetti, the Chilean who managed the acquisition of Fetzer Vineyards and now serves as its CEO as well as a director of Viña Concha y Toro. Fetzer bottled 2.5 million cases of wine worth $112 million last year, according to Concha y Toro’s financial report released March 26. That’s up 31% by value and 38% by volume from 2011. Fetzer accounted for 12% of C&T’s sales of $928 million and 8% of its 30 million cases of bottled wines. It produces wines that sell for $5 to more than $100 and exports 49% of its products to Europe. Twenty percent are sold in the U.S. and Canada.