Sonoma County’s Foley Family Wines selling wholesale arm to Southern Glazer’s

Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the nation’s largest beverage alcohol wholesaler, has signed definitive agreements to acquire certain assets of Epic Wine & Spirits of California, the wholesale arm of Healdsburg-based Foley Family Wines.

The deal for certain assets of Epic, announced Monday, comes as Southern Glazer’s and Foley ink a national distribution deal for Foley’s luxury wines. Southern Glazer’s also announced a new strategy for marketing fine wine and spirits to trade accounts such as restaurants. Financial terms of the deals weren’t disclosed.

Epic represents 120 suppliers making about 950,000 cases annually for over 400 brands, 40 of which are Foley’s, according to a spokeswoman.

“This is a new era for Foley Family Wines, following their recent acquisition of Ferrari-Carano, as they look to accelerate growth for their world-class portfolio across the U.S.,” said Wayne Chaplin, CEO of Southern Glazer’s, said in a news release. “Our two family-owned businesses are committed to working together to build on past successes, further develop their great brands, and create a long-term and fruitful partnership well into the future.”

Shawn Schiffer, president of Foley, called the agreement “the right next step” for the wine portfolio that insurance and finance industry mogul Bill Foley started in 1996. Foley acquired Epic in 2013 and expanded it a year ago with the acquisition of Southern California-based Pacific Wine Distributors.

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This story was updated with details on the scope of Epic’s portfolio and Southern Glazer’s national ranking.