US: Outsiders Increase Northwest Winery Profile

(Wines&Vines) - The prospect of greater national distribution—and, in turn, greater recognition for Northwest wine—is one of the benefits many vintners mention when talking about the spate of deals completed in the region during the past few years.

E. & J. Gallo’s purchase of Woodinville, Wash.-based Columbia Winery and Covey Run Winery from Ascentia Wine Estates in 2012 and the joint venture Charles Smith and Charles Bieler struck with Trinchero Family Estates a year ago to handle distribution of their Charles & Charles label were seen as bringing national attention to the region.

“Now the American wine business and the consumer is going to take Washington (state) even more seriously,” winemaker Charles Smith told Wines & Vines at the time.

Within weeks, Jackson Family Wines was closing acquisitions of hundreds of acres of vineyard in Oregon, becoming the single-biggest vineyard owner in the state. The moves were big enough to change the state’s game, bringing attention to a state that has long sought to extend its national presence (see “Start Spreading the News”).

Awareness of wine quality

“There’s just beginning to be much more openness to look at the wine quality that’s being produced up in Oregon and Washington,” Mario Zepponi, a partner at Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Zepponi & Co. told Wines & Vines in a review of the deals done in 2013. “That openness typically comes when you see transactions where larger wineries enter.”