Napa Valley’s Realm Cellars acquires 22-acre Pritchard Hill vineyard
Realm Cellars was on the verge of bankruptcy a decade ago before Scott Becker stepped in to buy it, and now the Napa Valley producer known for its cult-status cabernet sauvignon wines has purchased a key grape source.
This deal comes a year and a half after Realm expanded its winery estate in the Stags Leap District of the valley with the acquisition of 2 more vineyard acres from the Hartwell family on Wappo Hill.
Realm acquired from the Chang family the 40-acre property that includes 22 planted acres in Houyi Vineyard and Nine Suns Winery, according to the winery. Also acquired were the Nine Suns and Houyi Vineyard brands and the Nine Suns inventory. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
Realm has been making wine from Houyi Vineyard grapes since 2013. The Chang family bought the vineyard in 2010 and built the winery in 2016. The 7,000-square-foot production facility is permitted to produce 8,000 cases annually and has 7,000 square feet of wine caves.
The vineyard is at 200 Long Ranch Road, located 1,300 feet up the eastern slopes of Napa Valley. It’s in the Pritchard Hill winegrowing area made prestigious by the likes of Chappellet, Ovid and Colgin Cellars. Not a designated appellation, the area is east of St. Helena, south of Lake Hennessey and north of Yountville.
The acquisition deal came together last fall, when the Chang family was assessing the future of the business, according to Realm’s recounting on its website. Second-generation owner Jason Chang and his wife, Flora, were running the winery but siblings Aimee and Chris were no longer involved. Becker worked out a transition arrangement to take over farming of the vineyard in January, before the deal closed.
“Mother Nature and the economy will have a lot of influence over our future,” Becker said in a website statement. “But if we take the long view, I actually think the greater risk is to not take the leap ... to become complacent or to miss an opportunity to own some of the best ground in Napa Valley.”
Realm was started in 2002 by Juan Mercado, an Oakland nurse in Oakland and part-time worker at a Calistoga wine shop, and Wendell Laidley, who worked in finance in San Francisco.
The business has had some near misses in its history, according to its telling. Becker purchased the business in July 2012 when it was having trouble paying vendors. Soon after, it had to dump the equivalent to a quarter of its sales because of brettanomyces yeast spoilage, then came the challenges with fires in 2017 and 2020, the latter of which caused the winery to skip releasing that vintage because of concerns about “smoke taint.”
The venture found its first home of its own in December 2015 with the acquisition of the Hartwell Estate Winery at 5795 Silverado Trail and surrounding vines.
Because of limited wine supply after the 2020 vintage, Realm hasn’t hosted guests at its estate. That is set to change next year, with experiences at the Silverado Trail and Pritchard Hill wineries, the company said.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before coming to the Business Journal in 1999, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
