Napa Valley’s Duckhorn Wine Company has acquired Californian wine peer Calera, one of the region’s most acclaimed producers of pinot noir wines.
Founded by Josh Jensen in 1975, Calera played a pivotal role in establishing pinot noir as one of North America’s great varietal wines, and helped to establish California’s Central Coast as one of the world’s most exciting wine regions.
The acquisition includes the Calera brand and winery, along with its tasting room, estate vineyards and all associated inventory and assets.
Alex Ryan, president and CEO of Duckhorn Wine, said: “Like our own founders, Dan and Margaret Duckhorn, Josh [Jensen] is a visionary and pioneer who has spent more than four decades shaping the modern American palate for luxury wines. What he has achieved at Calera has been nothing short of remarkable. Calera is one of the world’s great wineries, and we will ensure that Josh’s legacy of quality and excellence will continue to flourish for decades to come. For us, this is a fantastic opportunity to establish a presence on the Central Coast with one of the region’s most iconic wineries.”
The Calera winery will benefit from leveraging the sales and marketing experience of Duckhorn, which maintains an in-house sales team of more than 50 people, with placements in more than 30,000 accounts throughout the United States and in 50 countries around the world.
Josh Jensen said he was leaving Calera in ‘expert hands’.
Founder Jensen, now 73, will continue to remain involved at Calera after its takeover, joining Duckhorn’s board of directors.
“Calera is my life’s work,” he said. “In this era of industry consolidation, it was vital to me that I choose a partner that not only shares the values that have always defined Calera, but that also has the market presence to provide our wines a continued strong and secure route to market.
“Duckhorn is one of the most respected luxury wine companies in the world, and for good reason. They have integrity, and they are absolutely focused on making great wines. I’m proud to be entrusting Calera to their expert hands.”
In addition to the winery and tasting room, the sale includes Calera’s renowned Selleck, Jensen, Reed, Mills, Ryan and de Villiers estate vineyards in the Mount Harlan wine-growing region in central California. Totaling 85 planted acres, these vineyards are between 2,200 and 2,500 feet above sea level, and feature the limestone-rich soils that originally drew Jensen to this spot in the Gavilan Mountains, 100 miles south of San Francisco.
With plantings dating back to 1975, the vineyards feature some of the oldest vines in the region and are the source for Calera’s single-vineyard wines.
Jamie O’Hara, president of TSG Consumer Partners, which owns Duckhorn, said: “Duckhorn and Calera are both innovators and leaders that have spent decades building the trust and respect of their customers and industry partners. Calera will benefit from the strength of Duckhorn’s sales and marketing platform, its phenomenal distributor network, including its powerful California-direct model, and a best-in-class management team that will continue building on the legacy established by Josh. For Duckhorn, this is an opportunity to add one of America’s great wineries to a portfolio that already includes some of the most respected wineries in the United States.”
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