Oregon Wine Continues to Draw Investment

(Wines&Vines) - Oregon’s wine industry is set for a banner year of transactions, with the past week seeing two more major winery purchases announced.

The latest deal sees Burgundy’s Maison Louis Jadot acquiring Resonance Vineyard, a 20-acre property in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, from Carla and Kevin Chambers for an undisclosed sum.

Originally planted to Pinot Noir in 1981, the vineyard is Jadot’s first foray outside Burgundy. Grapes from the vineyard will go to Trisaetum Vineyards near Newberg, Ore., for processing this fall under the supervision of Jacques Lardiere, formerly winemaker at Louis Jadot’s operations in France. Lardiere will also oversee vineyard operations. “I can’t think of a better steward to hand off the property to than the Jadot team,” Kevin Chambers told Wines & Vines.

“The timing was very good for us. The Oregon industry as a whole right now is on a new growth curve. We seemed to have survived the recession and are now back to flourishing, and there’s obviously a lot of new investment here with the Jackson Family Wines moves, and the Precept move, and now, of course, the Jadot move. And I know there are more percolating.” (See “Hot Spring for Northwest Acquisitions.”)

 International Wine Associates of Healdsburg, Calif., was initially approached by the owners of Maison Louis Jadot in the United States regarding potential acquisition opportunities. Resonance surfaced as a possibility, and the deal proceeded.

 “They were looking for a small, world-class Pinot Noir property,” Robert Nicholson, principal of International Wine Associates, said of what Jadot was seeking.

Oregon fit the bill.