North Bay Business Journal

NAPA — The developer of a 107,000-square-foot warehouse near Napa County Airport finished last year and leased to wine-related tenants is back with a like-sized project in the same industrial area.

Novato-based Winery Exchange continues to expand beyond its roots as a worldwide creator of wine, beer and spirits brands with the acquisition of a portfolio of certified-organic and sulfite-undetectable wine brands, led by Our Daily Red and Orleans Hill, from Nevada County Wine Guild. …

St. Helena-based Trinchero Family Estates on Wednesday announced a strategic alliance with vintners Charles Smith of Walla Walla, Wash., and Charles Bieler of New York City to manage sales, distribution and marketing of their joint-venture brand Charles & Charles. …

Safe Harbor Wine Storage (707-252-9690, safeharborwines.com), a bulk cellaring business opened five years ago by two notable Napa Valley winemakers and two owners of Sausalito-based oak stave insert maker StaVin, has outgrown its 50,000-square-foot south Napa winery and is moving forward with plans to expand down the street. …

Because the original comment period for the proposed vineyard waiver program for rainwater runoff in the Napa River and Sonoma Creek watersheds ran through the winter holidays, the State Water Resources Control Board extended the comment deadline and rescheduled the public hearing. …

DH Wine Compliance of Windsor this month launched Wine Compliance Academy. …

After two decades as president of Lake County Winegrape Commission, Shannon Gunier left the organization this month. … To replace Ms. Gunier, the board of the Lakeport-based trade group chose Debra Sommerfield from more than 30 applicants. …

Sonoma-based wine company Don Sebastiani & Sons upgraded its south Napa winery, now called Steelbird Cellars after birds that populate the area, with new bottling capabilities, high-tech treatment of water to reduce chemicals used, energy-efficient lighting and “showcase” offices and client reception area. …

Fresh off the dissolution of the Mendocino Wine & Winegrape Commission this summer, the new marketing organization, Mendocino Winegrowers, has partnered with Amazon.com to sell more than 500 wines from the county’s appellations in the large online retailer’s second attempt at wine-to-consumer sales. …

Nearly three years after expanding from franchisees of two Napa UPS Store locations into owner-operators of a wine order fulfillment business in south Napa, Bill and Patti Myers are expanding Eagle Rock Fulfillment for the fourth time. …

Wine Direct to Trade is St. Helena-based company started by two veterans of wine direct sales, marketing and wholesaling are trying to create an Internet-based platform to simplify the process of selling wine to trade accounts. …

Sonoma County Vintners hired Dana Macaulay as director of events. She will be managing the 200-member trade group’s U.S. and international events such as Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, a joint production with Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. …

Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage hired Marion Ghiringhelli for a new position in North American sales and marketing of the company’s rapidly expanding oak-alternatives business. …

Novato-based wine accessories developer and distributor Cork Pops, which came up with the eponymous product for opening wine corks two decades ago and the vinOair bottle spout-aerator more recently, just released vinOice, a drip-resistant spout designed to chill a bottle of white or sparkling wine to an optimum temperature and keep it that way for up to an hour.

The Napa County Planning Commission on Wednesday voted 5-0 to approve a use permit for Amorim Cork America to build a 48,133-square-foot cork finishing and distribution facility in south Napa. … The U.S. Treasury Department Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau completed its initial review of the American Viticultural Area petitions for Big Valley District — Lake County and Kelsey Bench — Lake County, located west and southwest, respectively, of Mt. Konocti on the south shore of Clear Lake, according to the Lake County Winegrape Commission. … The European Union and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Germany recently signed an organic equivalence arrangement. Certified organic products as of June 1 will be able to be moved freely between U.S. and E.U. borders. … Recently introduced legislation in Sacramento would reimburse farmers for costs associated with transitioning land to certified organic production. … Paul Dolan has left Ukiah-based Mendocino Wine Co. as a partner and president. … Dalla Terra Winery Direct, a Napa-based importer for family-owned Italian wineries, said the number of cases it sold in the U.S. last year broke the 300,000 milestone. … The California Department of Pesticide Regulation recognized Gallo of Sonoma with a 2011 Integrated Pest Management Innovator Award for leadership in reducing pesticide use. … Viader Winery in Napa County’s Howell Mountain appellation commissioned France-based Fruition Sciences to study distinguishing grapegrowing features of Viader’s vineyards. … Patz & Hall of Napa named James McCeney assistant winemaker.

The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau is increasingly benefitting from two sources — trade shows and weddings. … Several winery tasting rooms are opening in Sonoma and Napa counties in coming months. … The Napa Tourism Improvement District and the Napa Downtown Association have launched a new website as part of an effort to promote the downtown region.

WINDSOR — A major Italian manufacturer of winemaking equipment plans to build a North American distribution and light production facility in this Sonoma County town.

AMERICAN CANYON — Custom vintner Sonoma Wine Co. is undertaking major upgrades of its south Napa Valley winemaking facility to accommodate more larger-scale clients.

Cliff Lede’s Breggo Cellars purchased Savoy Vineyard, a 52-acre pinot noir and chardonnay property in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. Fruit for the single-vineyard Breggo brand comes from the property. … Pinot noir producer Kosta Browne is expanding in Sebastopol, moving from one former apple processing plant to another. … In the April 11 issue, the Business Journal asked panelists of the April 28 Wine Industry Conference about trends in mergers and acquisitions and in direct sales and social media. Panelist Bill Foley, founder of Foley Family Wines, now provides his insights. … The Hess Collection in Napa gave a $10,000 grant each to The Land Trust of Napa County and the Napa County Student & Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship program (SLEWS). … The Napa Valley Vintners trade group is set to arrive in mainland China with 40 vintners from the county on a weeklong trade mission, including stops in Shanghai and Beijing to meet wine trade representatives, media, targeted consumers and political leaders. … Wine People notes

Seaton Vineyards to build winery; traffic study in contention

CALIFORNIA — Constellation Wines U.S., one of the world’s largest wine companies and operator of several North Coast wineries, undertook one of the largest such projects for the wine industry this year.

AMERICAN CANYON — Eleven football fields or 10 Boeing 747 jetliners parked wingtip to wingtip could fit under the massive 15-acre roof of the new distribution center for Santa Rosa-based vintner Jackson Family Wines and Napa-based trucker and warehouser Biagi Bros.

RUSSIAN RIVER VALLEY — John and Kathe Dyson acquired Williams Selyem in 1998 and nearly a decade later embarked upon construction of a facility befitting one of Sonoma County’s most exclusive wine brands.

GEYSERVILLE – Work crews last week were putting the finishing touches on Francis Ford Coppola’s “wine wonderland” makeover of the former Chateau Souverain winery in Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley.

Editor’s note: The Business Journal features profiles of North Bay construction projects that are complete or nearly so. Send details to jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax to 707-521-5292.

Construction on one of Sonoma County’s most exclusive wineries started in September 2007 and was completed in phases over the past three years. The new winery provides more-efficient space for aging the wine and more scenic venues for hosting visits or events for mailing-list members, but some functions will continue to be handled off site.

Ganau America is a subsidiary of family-owned Sugherificio Ganau S.p.A., Italy’s largest producer of cork wine bottle stoppers. In May 2008, Ganau America purchased 2.8 acres in Carneros Business Park in the Eighth Street East wine-related industrial cluster on the southern outskirts of Sonoma. At 40,000 square feet, the new facility is nearly double the size of Ganau America’s current location about a half-mile away and has four times the amount of laboratory space, according to Mariella Ganau, chief executive officer.

WINDSOR — Well-known consulting vintner Helen Turley plans to have a home built in Windsor for her own luxury-tier brand Marcassin Vineyard starting this summer.

CARNEROS — The Ceja family of winegrape growers, vintners and restaurateurs is pushing to start construction this fall on the first phase of a multimillion-dollar winery project among its vines on the Napa County side of Los Carneros winegrowing region.

Instead of the urban winery going rural, we see the economic development opportunity of the existing downtown vacant spaces supporting new urban wineries.

Also: Auction set for Manchester Ridge vineyards