Caves For Sale

Rutherford winery and vineyard sold for $40 million

Sloan Estate, an ultra-private winery and vineyard in Rutherford, has been sold by owner Stuart Sloan to Goldin Financial Holdings, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate, for $40 million. 

According to the Sloan Estate purchase agreement and as reported in Wine Industry Insight, Goldin Financial Holdings is an investment company engaged in Japanese restaurant operations, consumer electronics, financial investments and the wine business.

“There has been an explosion of red wine consumption in Asia and Hong Kong, particularly in the high-end wines,” said Jim Carroll, general counsel for Goldin subsidiary Goldin Factoring of Fremont.

“Sloan is one of the best wines coming out of Napa Valley, and it was determined that would be a good place to start in providing more wine to the Asian culture,” he said.

Created in 1997 by Sloan, a Seattle retailing executive, Sloan Estate released its first vintage in Spring 2004, the Sloan Estate website said.

County records indicate that the property consists of 40 acres located at 88 Auberge Rd., above Auberge de Soleil resort in Rutherford.

Included in the sale is an 8,824-square-foot French chateau-style home, underground caves, gardens and a pool, Carroll said. The deal includes the winery and vineyards, but not the winery name or inventory, he said.

The assessed value of the land and improvements in 2010 was $12.5 million, according to the assessor’s office.

Carroll said this is the first winery purchase in the U.S. by Goldin. Another Goldin division reportedly plans to build a $30 million wine distribution center in China that can store more than 7 million bottles of wine.

The people behind the wine were another important factor in the acquisition, Carroll said, noting winemaker Martha McClellan, vineyard manager David Abreau and estate manager Trevor Antognini.

“These people are passionate about the wine, the grapes, the estate, and that led us more than anything to the purchase,” Carroll said.

The team will remain in place, he said.

“Our plans are to continue the operation exactly as it has been,” Carroll said. “The grapes will continue to be grown. We will continue to bottle the wine and (maintain) the mailing list,” which has about 1,400 members, he said.

Not open to the public, the winery developed an exclusive reputation over the years, matched by prices. At wine-searcher.com , a bottle of Sloan Proprietary Red ranges from $251 to $747 a bottle.

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