North Bay Business Journal

Visitors to Sonoma County spent $1.47 billion in 2011, a more than 9 percent increase over 2010, according to the latest figures released by Visit California.

A number of new regulations related to dirt, air, water and energy are facing the North Coast wine business. In Napa County, vintners and growers trade groups are concerned about a coalescing county climate action plan (countyofnapa.org/CAP) that includes specific numerical targets for greenhouse gas reduction. The county Board of Supervisors sent the draft plan [...]

So here we are at half-past spring in 2013. Frost danger is just about over. Both the bulk-wine and grape markets have been active, and tonnage available on the spot market is limited. Most vineyards are reporting two clusters per shoot, as seen last year at this time.

Are we caught in a “Groundhog Day” replay of last year? Well, no, we’re not. Here are two differences.

Carlile Winery & Vineyards has outgrown its Santa Rosa custom-winemaking facility, so it is sort of swapping places with Windsor-based Robert Mueller Winery.

Spelletich Family Wine Company of Napa Valley is moving its operations into 16,180 square feet in the Napa Valley Commons business park in south Napa to fulfill its need for expansion. That’s more than twice the amount of space at its previous location.

Windsor-based Inman Family Wines, maker of Russian River Valley pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris wines, hired Mike Sai as marketing director and promoted Michelle Berger to director of direct to consumer sales.

The second North Coast Wine Industry Expo is still seven months away, but organizers say they are more than two-thirds toward the goal of tripling the number of registered vendors.

ST. HELENA — Bloom may be still a few weeks away for local winegrape vines, but economic conditions for the industry’s key consumers appear to be in full bloom, given the record-fast sellout of tickets to the upcoming 33rd annual Auction Napa Valley fundraiser (auctionnapavalley.org) May 30–June 2 and brimming guest logs at area hotels, according to organizers.

Construction FARROW Commercial Construction has completed renovations for a homeowners association of a well-known shared ownership resort in Scottsdale, AZ. FARROW’s portfolio includes the award-winning Hilton Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Hilton Atlanta the Hyatt House Sorrento Mesa, Stonebridge, Marriott Palm Beach Gardens, and Holiday Inn Baltimore among others. Some of FARROW’s current and recent vacation [...]

YOUNTVILLE, SANTA ROSA – Goosecross Cellars, the boutique luxury winery located in Yountville, has been sold to Golden Equity Investments, a private equity firm located in Golden, Colo., that was formed in 2011 to provide equity capital to privately held, middle market companies. The transaction included the 11-acre estate winery and vineyard property, tasting room and contemporary Tudor-style estate home. Zepponi & Company, the wine industry mergers and acquisitions advisory firm for ultra-premium, luxury and estate wine brands and vineyards, served as the exclusive financial adviser to the owners of Goosecross Cellars. Financial terms were not disclosed.

NORTH BAY — Legislation has been introduced that could significantly help grape growers and other farmers in the region utilize an additional resource for securing water during the dry season.

Assembly Bill 1200, introduced by Mark Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency, would establish a pilot project that would permit the agency to study the impacts of using recycled rain water for use in watering crops.

Diana Brennan, who has worked in Sonoma Raceway media relations since 1999, was promoted from director to senior director of media and community relations. …

Altus Equity Group in Santa Rosa hired Kristy Brooks as operations manager. …

Kyle Young is the newest agent of commercial real estate brokerage Keegan & Coppin Company, Inc./ONCOR International’s Santa Rosa office….

Novato-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc., appointed Eric Yuen, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president. …

Marla Carroll was named winemaker at Franciscan Estate Winery in St. Helena. …

Offered for the first time this year, the eight-course Wine Industry Finance and Accounting certificate program takes many of the financial skills taught in Sonoma State’s full-blown wine business degree programs and breaks those topics out for focused instruction to a non-student audience.

Gary Heck, owner and president of Korbel Champagne Cellars and Kenwood Vineyards, became an honorary inductee of the Sonoma State University chapter of the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society last month. …

Amid the rising popularity of a for-credit “Banking and Finance Academy” program operated in partnership with Santa Rosa City Schools, Redwood Credit Union recent took part in a new “Bite of Reality” financial literacy program in San Rafael. …

Dominican University’s Venture Greenhouse incubator and accelerator program will host a “Marinnovation” showcase for innovators and entrepreneurs from Marin County on May 15, with Netflix co-founder and Mill Valley resident Mitch Lowe as keynote. …

On May 10, College of Marin will host a celebration for its recently opened Science, Math and Nursing building at the school’s Kentfield Campus, featuring a lecture by alumnus Adam Steltzner from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Rover “Curiosity” expedition. …

Stephen Olson, long-time agriculture instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College and a major force behind the college’s Shone Farm programs, has been selected to receive one of the school’s highest honors for staff, the President’s Medallion of Honor. …

Massage Envy Spa’s Santa Rosa location hired a certified massage therapist in March, Susan Losinski. …

The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa hired an additional group sales manager, Mary Jo Baird. …

Jen Birmingham, a sales associate in Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Petaluma office, has been awarded membership in the company’s International Sterling Society, an honor bestowed upon the top Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. …

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage announced that Gary Sumner, a sales associate in its Santa Rosa office, earned membership in the company’s International Diamond Society. …

Sonoma-based marketing agency V2 Wine Group appointed industry veteran Ken Meyerson director of national retail accounts. …

NAPA — Napa Valley hosted 2.94 million visitors in 2012, generating $1.4 billion in direct tourism spending, and more than three-quarters of them come for dining and wine tasting, according to results from two studies released Thursday.

Given continued uncertainties around immigration policy in Washington and Sacramento and the budding of a 2013 crop that could be decent-sized, North Coast winegrape growers are looking for ways to stretch labor farther so they aren’t as short-handed as a number were during the record-volume 2012 season.

Business owners, particularly in the wine industry that makes up a significant proportion of the North Coast economy, need to pay attention to major health care insurance, tax and estate law changes this year to avoid steep noncompliance penalties and mitigate significant tax increases, according to local tax-planning and insurance experts.

Vintners and growers of winegrapes often emphasize the value of vineyard terroir, a French term for the contributions of the distinctiveness of a certain location in wine quality. Yet what’s not often realized is what boosts the prestige of vineyards in one area over those in another also can be a big bonus in tax savings.

Shipments of wine directly to consumers from wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, accounting for 69 percent of such shipments from U.S. sources, last year grew at 8.0 percent and 10.1 percent in value, respectively, helping push U.S. winery-to-consumer shipment value past that of wine exports for the first time, according to a new study. …

Prices of bulk wine imported into the U.S. may decline while global supply is tightening, according to one new report from agrilender Rabobank International. …

San Francisco-based Bacchus Capital Management on Thursday said it provided an undisclosed amount of “significant growth capital” to Madrigal Family Winery in Napa Valley. …

Jackson Family Wines continues its North Coast land acquisitions. …

Healdsburg-based graphic design and advertising firm Firefly Creative has experienced growth in demand from wineries seeking professional photo and video services as well as conversion of their websites to “responsive” design. …

Fetzer Vineyards, based in Hopland, California, hired Ben Byczynski as grower relations manager, North Coast. …

OFFbeat Brands of appointed three new sales executives. …

Bank of Marin hired Jim Burke as chief information officer. …

Zero Breast Cancer, a nonprofit organization in Marin County, will honor the following individuals and organizations for their contributions to the understanding of breast cancer: David Gullion, M.D., Carol Kronenwetter, Ph.D., Regan Fedric.

The 2013 Francine Levien Activist honorees are Stig Westling, MBA, Jonathan Mooney, MBA and Janine Elliott, MBA, co-founders of Skip to Renew, a company that was launched through the Dominican University Venture Greenhouse. …

Michael Gregory, sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Petaluma office, has been awarded membership in the company’s International Sterling Society, an honor bestowed upon the top Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. …

Rebecca Celli, sales associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Petaluma office, has earned membership into the company’s International President’s Circle, a prestigious honor bestowed upon the top Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. …

Sodaro Estate Winery appointed a new winemaking team: Denis Malbec and May-Britt Malbec. …

Shipments of wine directly to consumers from wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties, accounting for 69 percent of such shipments from U.S. sources, last year grew at 8.0 percent and 10.1 percent in value, respectively, helping push U.S. winery-to-consumer shipment value past that of wine exports for the first time, according to a new study.

The volume of California wine shipments to U.S. markets last year dipped for the first time in 11 years, but retail value of that wine rose by more than 8 percent for the second straight year, according to recently released figures.

Meanwhile, shipments of wine to the U.S. from all sources increased 2.4 percent, and retail value, 5.2 percent to new volume and sales records, according to data compiled by Woodside-based industry analysis firm Gomberg Fredrikson & Associates and San Francisco-based advocacy group Wine Institute.