Pernod Ricard has sold its Californian winery Kenwood Vineyards to the owner of local vintner Korbel Champagne Cellars.
Korbel confirmed to Just Drinks the sparkling winemaker’s owner, president and chairman Gary Heck had bought Kenwood without sharing further details.
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Pernod Ricard had no comment to share on the news when approached by Just Drinks.
The Paris-headquartered group bought Kenwood from Korbel, also known as F Korbel & Bros., in 2014. At the time, Just Drinks understood it had then paid approximately $100m for the company’s winery, vineyards and IP rights.
The financial details of the new deal have so far not been disclosed by either party.
At this stage, it is unclear why Heck has decided to buy Kenwood or why Pernod decided to sell the Sonoma Valley winery.
A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed on 23 March suggests 14 people were laid off at Kenwood as of yesterday (31 March).
On the winery’s website, a statement says Kenwood “is closed until further notice” and to “check back in April for further updates”.
The Absolut vodka distiller has been progressively offloading its wine assets to focus on its spirits portfolio.
Late last year, Napa Valley group Trinchero Family Wine & Spirits struck a deal to buy some of Pernod Ricard’s sparkling wine assets in California.
Trinchero bought assets that covered the Mumm Sparkling California, Mumm Napa and DVX brands for an undisclosed amount.
The deal gave Trinchero the right to manufacture Mumm sparkling wines in the US and distribute them across the country, Canada, Mexico and some Caribbean markets.
It did not cover Champagne, nor Mumm assets in Argentina and Australia.
In 2024, Pernod sold a number of wine assets to the owner of Australia-headquartered Accolade Wines, Australian Wine Holdco Limited.
The sale included brands like Jacob’s Creek, Brancott Estate and Campo Viejo, as well as seven wineries. It was completed the following year and a new wine company was created to house the brands called Vinarchy.
Kenwood Vineyards was one of the wine businesses Pernod decided to retain, alongside Etchart in Argentina and Chateau Sainte Marguerite in France.
