North Bay Business Journal

Higher tax rates that went into effect this year have further raised the stakes for business owners anticipating a third-party sale, as failure to plan for those impacts could surprise sellers by leaving them with significantly less in take-home pay than anticipated, according to North Bay experts in accounting and business law.

The record-sized winegrape harvest of 2012 hasn’t crushed demand building over the past year for wine producers to lock in fruit supplies and places to turn it into higher-end wines that have been enjoying a resurgence in sales.

GRATON — New York-based alcoholic beverage giant Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) today said it signed an agreement to buy the Mark West wine brand from Purple Wine Co., based in the west Sonoma County community of Graton, for about $160 million.

Modesto-based E. & J. Gallo Winery today confirmed information from industry sources that it was acquiring the Washington state brands and operations of Healdsburg-based Ascentia Wine Estates.

SANTA ROSA – “I hate wireless,” said Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper on his blog last week, announcing that he had spun off his wireless division to concentrate on DSL and fiber.

SANTA ROSA — Redwood Empire Food Bank is moving forward with the first part of a $9 million expansion plan designed to greatly increase the organization’s ability to supply food to a growing number of hungry North Coast families, seniors, adults and children over the next 25 years.

NAPA — The Avia Napa hotel has been purchased by Hyatt Hotels Corp. as part of a larger purchase of 24 hotels and related assets from LodgeWorks, Avia’s parent company.

NOVATO — Three and a half years after acquiring Marin County’s largest office property for $313.8 million in cash and debt and announcing plans for a massive mixed-use redevelopment of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. headquarters in Novato, the owners plan to sell it.

NAPA — Australia-based beverage giant Foster’s Group today announced it wants to complete a demerger of its wine business, called Treasury Wine Estates, in May.