California: VJB Vineyards Purchases Wellington Winery

(Wines&Vines) - The Belmonte family, owners of VJB Vineyards and Cellars in California’s upper Sonoma Valley, has acquired nearby Wellington Vineyards.

The purchase adds a production winery and hospitality center plus 21 acres of grapevines to the Belmonte’s existing 18 acres of estate vineyard.

It also provides a home for VJB’s production, which had been at another winery. The Wellington facility has a permit to produce 15,000 cases per year, but Wines Vines Analytics puts VJB’s current production at 6,000 cases. Belmonte tells Wines & Vines that he intends to reduce production to 5,000 cases of high-quality wines.

VJB has a tasting room in Kenwood with a deli and café, which will continue to offer its wines.

While VJB specializes in Italian varieties, Belmonte intends to focus on Bordeaux varieties at the Wellington site.
The history of Wellington

Wellington Vineyards has been owned by Peter Wellington, whose late father John bought the winery site in 1986. At the time, it consisted of 20 acres of old vines and a few old fruit and nut trees.

They started replanting part of the old vineyard and orchard in 1988, and the winery was completed in time for the 1989 crush.

The estate vineyards consist of 21 acres. Eight of those acres are planted to vines between 85 and 117 years old with 24 different varieties in the old vineyard. The most common of the old vines are Zinfandel, Carignan, Alicante Bouschet, Grenache and Syrah.

In addition, the vineyards contain 10 acres of 11- to 16-year-old Merlot, Chardonnay, Marsanne and Syrah vines. Three more acres were replanted in 2001, predominantly to Syrah, Zinfandel and Grenache. Belmonte expects to adjust planting over time.