B.R. Cohn Winery sold to Vintage Wine Estates
Vintage Wine Estates, among the most active acquirers of North Coast wine properties, purchased 41-year-old B.R. Cohn Winery in Sonoma Valley.
Founder Bruce Cohn on July 22 announced the sale of his namesake winery, located at 15000 Sonoma Hwy. in Glen Ellen. Vintage on July 24 confirmed the deal after not commenting on the earlier announcement. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Cohn and his wife, Laurie, will continue to live on the Trestle Glen property next to the winery property, Olive Hill Vineyards, which he purchased in 1974.
Winemaker Tom Montgomery shifts to a consulting role “for the foreseeable future,” but Vintage said it plans to install its own executive team. Wanting to focus more on his roots in music management, Cohn had passed the reins of the winery to son Dan Cohn in January 2014. Leading B.R. Cohn production will be Marco DiGiulio, Vintage Wine Estates chief winemaker and B.R. Cohn winemaker 2004–2010.
Bruce Cohn started the winery in 1984 and it has grown into a wine and gourmet food operation, selling estate-grown olive oils and vinegars as well as packaged consumables.
“This is a proud moment for our family, and our hard work has paid off,” Bruce Cohn said in the announcement. “The new owners have indicated that what got us here: attention to winemaking with consistency vintage to vintage, extraordinary customer service and a terrific visitor experience will remain the same. Like a number of folks in the valley who have sold in recent years, it looks like we are at the end of the era of family-owned wineries. It is becoming increasingly difficult to compete and grow family-run businesses in this new environment where bigger entities with more resources are taking over.”
Vintage Wine Estates is a family-owned wine company, “particularly interested in preserving heritage wineries such as B.R. Cohn, and taking them into the future,” said President Pat Roney in its announcement confirming the deal.
Vintage last year acquired Napa-based Canopy Management Wine Company, and in 2013 purchased Clos Pegase in Napa Valley and Viansa Winery & Italian Marketplace also in Sonoma Valley.
The transition away from the winery has been seen in recent months. Cohn relocated to Sonoma newly formed B.R. Cohn Charity Events to put on the annual Sonoma Music Festival featuring The Doobie Brothers band he has managed for 46 years. And the festival this year is set to be held Oct. 2–4 near downtown Sonoma, instead of on the winery property, where it had been for nearly three decades.
This year the concert also features Chicago, Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band, and Gregg Allman. The benefit concert has raised $6 million for charities over its 29 years, Cohn said.
Cohn had planned to significantly expand the festival grounds on the winery property until shelving the plan.
