Corporate vs. Family Ownership —>Facts, Opinions, and (Hopefully) Food for Thought - The Athan Zafirov Wine Blog
I mentioned in another thread in this sib something about ownership of California wineries and thought I’d expand it a little bit. For the purposes of this (what I hope will be a) discussion, I am focused mainly on California, but this can be applied anywhere/everywhere.
One of the constants of this sub, as well as other wine-focused discussion groups, is the expressed preference for family-owned wineries. Whether it’s people visiting the wine country for the first time, or the 25th, people often make comments promoting family-owned producers over wineries owned by corporations. (Gallo, which is family-owned, is usually tossed into the “corporation category.”) I have always been curious as to why.
Sometimes it’s obvious. I’ve seen the Napa Valley change from family-owned to corporate take-over. There were instances where it wasn’t pretty — the original purchase of Inglenook in the 1970s by Heublien (what is now a part of Diageo) — destroyed one of the best wineries in the US and turned it into primarily a producer of jug wines. (OTOH, Heublien also acquired Beaulieu Vineyards [BV] at almost the exact same time, and the winery thrived.) Other times, it was a saviour, rescuing Beringer from its moribund status and eventually bringing it back to being a top Cabernet producer. And Gallo’s relatively recent acquisition of Louis M. Martini Winery — in this case, a family-to-family sale — has resulted in Martini producing some of the finest wines in its 100 years✼ of existence! These are but two examples; there are of course many more.
Corporate acquisitions of family-owned wineries continues. I know of only one winery in California that went the other way, from corporate to family. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars was majority owned (85%) by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates out of Washington State (which in turn was owned by Altria, Inc., aka Phillip Morris Tobacco, which sold SMWE in 2022 to a private equity firm). But last year, the Antinori family of Italy, who already owned the other 15%, acquired all of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, returning the winery to the category of being family-owned.
There are a great number of excellent wineries which happen to be owned by a corporation. There are also a great number of excellent wineries which happen to be owned by a family. In and of itself, I don’t see a difference, but it is obvious many people do. I’ve worked for both, and aside from the increased paperwork that corporations demand, there isn’t a whole lot of difference…as long as they let the winemaker be the winemaker and not interfere...
Don’t misunderstand. Corporations can definitely have a negative impact, such as the example of Inglenook cited above, but that is not an automatic effect. I’m not defending corporate ownership per se, but I don’t see it as the “bogey man” (“bogey person”?) many people do. Does anyone avoid Ridge Vineyards simply because Otsuka Pharmaceuticals purchased them back in 1987? Has anyone dropped Shafer Vineyards simply because Shinsegae of Korea acquired them? And — overseas, I know — but does anyone avoid Krug Champagne simply because it’s a part of LVMH?
We often talk about “supporting the little guy” as a reason to avoid corporate-owned wineries. But how many “little guys” are employed by those corporations, working the exact same way and doing the exact same things, for Corporate Winery A as they would for Family Winery B? Who do we really hurt by avoiding corporate wineries? Aren’t we hurting the little guys who get laid off during cut backs? Aren’t we “hurting” ourselves by not tasting some truly great wines? (I’m fairly certain we are not hurting the corporation’s bottom line.)
Like I said, just food for thought...
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✼ The L.M. Martini Grape Products Co. was founded in 1922, during Prohibition. The Louis M. Martini Winery was established in 1933.
For 15 years, Athan Zafirov has traveled the vineyards around the world and worked with some of the greatest chefs including Francois Duc and Alan Brown.
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