NAPA VALLEY, Calif. (KRON) - The Bay Area’s world-famous wine country is turning out to be more than a vacation destination for those looking to sip Chardonnay and Cabernet.
It’s also being eyed by prestigious French winemakers as a good place to put down new roots.
A young winemaker just moved here from France a few months ago to run what used to be the Flora Springs Estate right outside St. Helena.
The winery, first established in 1885, was recently purchased by prestigious vintners from the Bordeaux region of France and Rechristened Cathiard Family Estate.
The 26-year-old says her bosses chose to expand to this location because they want to build on their success making Cabernet which the Napa Valley is famous for.
“I'm really excited about it we've got great terroir, old vines amazing nature around us amazing primary forest I think we are going to make very outstanding wines from me it's exactly what I like,” Justine Labbe said.
“Napa Valley is at the pinnacle of the wine industry these days, it's right up there with Bordeaux and Burgundy and places in Spain, etc. and so when you are looking to establish yourself this isn't a bad spot,” Rob McMillian said.
Rob McMillian is with Silicon Valley Bank. He says he’s helped broker a growing number of transactions between French winemakers and West Coast wineries.
“It's all over, the Central Coast of California, Sonoma, Napa, Oregon, and even a little bit in Washington, there are buyers and sellers right now, it's a good market,” McMillian said.
Those behind these deals say in some cases the sellers are descendants of winemakers who want to get out of the business but for the buyers, one of the reasons to put down roots here is to help grow their business in the U.S.
“This is the largest wine market in the world 400 million cases by a long way so by buying something in the U.S. buying here a French company as access to the market in a way they wouldn't otherwise have,” Robert Nicholson said.
Another draw is not one we are used to hearing about here in the Bay Area.
According to the people helping make some of these transactions compared to land prices in France's most famous wine-producing regions, Napa Valley is considered a bargain.
“There's a big difference between the value of napa valley cabernet land compared to Bordeaux Cabernet land and that would be $500,000 here in the Napa Valley as an average and certainly over a million dollars an acre in Bordeaux,” Nicholson said.
“We are going to bring a French touch to American style wine,” Labbe said.
The new general manager of this winery is more focused on growing the same kind of grapes in a drier climate than she’s used to than the cost of the soil they are planted in.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3ClZDHu
No comments:
Post a Comment