North Bay Business Journal

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. …

Giancarlo Bianchetti is chief executive officer of Fetzer Vineyards and a director of Chile-based Viña Concha y Toro, which purchased Fetzer in 2011 for $263 million.

He will be the keynote speaker at the April 18 Wine Industry Conference presented by the Business Journal. He spoke to the Journal about the company’s interest in Fetzer and his role in the deal.

The Business Journal’s 2013 Wine Industry Conference in April will feature the general manager of Fetzer Vineyards and the architect of its acquisition by a large Chilean wine company as well as insights on North Coast wine-related mergers and acquisitions from two of the largest players in the market recently.

After three straight years of harvests delayed and reduced by unwelcome weather, North Coast winegrape growers see signs of brighter prospects for a 2012 crop that could be, thankfully, average-sized and on time.

If we review sales activity over the past 18 to 24 months, we can see how the role of foreign investment in the U.S. wine industry has evolved. Broadly speaking, there are three general categories of foreign investment in the United States wine market from which to gauge activity.

The national and local economy was on everyone’s mind in 2011. But as the Business Journal editorial staff set out to develop its Top Ten Stories of the Year, it quickly became clear that the North Bay was blessed with multiple economy-boosting projects and new commitments job creation.

SANTA ROSA — After nearly 10 years of regulatory maneuvering and an arduous approval process that included legal challenges, construction on Sutter Health’s new $284 million Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa is well under way. …

PETALUMA — Enphase Energy, the fastest-growing technology company in the North Bay, announced it had filed for an IPO and signed a 10-year lease on a 96,000 square foot space in north Petaluma. …

SANTA ROSA — Agilent Technologies pulled out of the recession with a record year and a thriving Electronic Measurement Group based in Santa Rosa. …

NOVATO — For the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, 2011 was a year of all-round expansion. …

Three of the North Bay’s most prominent colleges — Santa Rosa Junior College, Dominican University and Napa Valley College — have recently selected new presidents. …

The Napa Valley Destination Council last year received a significant boost when the county board of supervisors officially approved a tourism improvement district that affixed a 2 percent assessment on hotels and lodging, resulting in a vastly increased marketing budget from $437,000 a year to nearly $4.5 million. …

When Marin General Hospital, the Prima Medical Group and the then-named Marin IPA announced the formation of a physician foundation over a year ago, officials said at the time they would look north for further expansion. …

SANTA ROSA — A five-year job creation effort in Sonoma County will be transitioning to its “execution phase” in 2012, said Trip Snelson, campaign executive for Building Economic Success Together. …

HOPLAND — Brown-Forman Corp. in March announced it would sell Hopland-based Fetzer Vineyards to Santiago-based Viña Concha y Toro S.A. (NYSE: VCO) for $238 million after reviewing options for Mendocino County-based wine operations since the previous December. The sale closed in April. …

PETALUMA — The significant reset in Sonoma County commercial property values that started for distressed Petaluma office buildings in early 2010 is expected to continue to help spur business activity through the end of 2011 and beyond. …

HOPLAND — Chilean wine company Vina Concha y Toro S.A. (NYSE: VCO) today said it completed the purchase, announced last month, of Mendocino County-based Fetzer Vineyards and related California assets from Brown-Forman Corp. in a deal valued at $238 million. “For Concha y Toro, the future development of the brands of Fetzer Vineyards is an important challenge, something to which Concha y Toro commits all its effort and energy to continue with the history of quality which it has already deservedly earned,” said Eduardo Guilisasti, chief executive officer of Concha y Toro.

Wine packaging continues to trend toward lighter-weight glass, particularly at a time of cost-cutting and rising energy prices.

HOPLAND — Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BFA, BFB) today said it has agreed to sell Fetzer Vineyards to Viña Concha y Toro S.A. (NYSE: VCO) for $238 million after reviewing options for Mendocino County-based wine operations.

The sale is expected to close next month. It includes neither the superpremium Sonoma-Cutrer brand nor the Brown-Forman’s longstanding sales and marketing agreement with Korbel California Champagnes of Guerneville.

Brown-Froman Corp. said it is considering business options for the sale of its Hopland-based wine assets, which mainly include the Fetzer Vineyards brand and related facilities.

A new study of carbon sequestration on 1,322 acres of Fetzer Vineyards vineyard and wild land in Mendocino County could make the chemical element a huge resource for the wine industry under California’s evolving greenhouse-gas emissions accounting system.

SACRAMENTO — Large scale importation of bulk and bottled wine helped boost total U.S. shipments by an estimated 2.1 percent last year, but wineries heavily impacted by shifting consumer demand may have to wait until 2011 for significant market improvement, an expert said at a major industry symposium here this morning.

The Hess Collection founder Donald Hess has started a $30 million, 10-year “quality improvement initiative” to upgrade his Napa County vineyards and wineries.