Lifted in toto from the San Francisco Chronicle, February 24:
Jackson Family Wines, the sixth-largest U.S. wine company, permanently shuttered its Carneros Hill Winery, located in Sonoma’s Carneros wine region, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with California authorities on February 12. The closure resulted in 13 layoffs.
Sean Carroll, Jackson Family Wines’ director of communications, said Carneros Hill, which was previously owned by Buena Vista Winery, “served as overflow production capacity and was not tied to any specific brand.” The winery had “become underutilized,” he continued, “and we consolidated operations accordingly.”
Best known for the best-selling Chardonnay brand Kendall-Jackson, the company produces 6 million cases of wine a year, according to Wine Business, and has 40 wine brands across the northern and southern hemispheres. More than 25 of those wineries are in California.
The news comes less than a week after Gallo, the largest U.S. wine company, confirmed it was closing a massive Napa Valley production facility and cutting its workforce at four other locations, totaling 93 layoffs. Earlier this month, Foley Family Wines & Spirits closed its production facility for the historic Central Coast winery Chalone. In January, Constellation laid off more than 200 people at the historic Mission Bell Winery in Madera, and the Boisset Collection closed two Napa Valley tasting rooms.
There have been signs of trouble for two other wine companies: Trinchero Family Wine & Spirits, the third-largest company, listed two of its top vineyards for sale. Treasury Wine Estates, the seventh-largest U.S. wine company, paused dividend payments following a large writedown on its U.S. businesses and a 17% drop in revenue over a half-year.
San Francisco Chronicle front page
