Where the land of Fire and Ice meets the land of Warhol and Whiskey, the Southeastern city of Pennsylvania is even more accessible to UK & Ireland travellers. From today until 27 October 2024, the new seasonal Icelandair service will offer 4x weekly flights from Iceland to Pittsburgh.
Keeping It Together: James Hall on Taking Back His Winery
30.04.2024 - 01:57 / forbes.com
Many great wine brands are owned by multinational corporations, with more small winemakers opting to sell every year. It’s not often that a winery goes the other way— the realities of regaining control are daunting to say the least. But James Hall, founder and once again owner of Patz & Hall, a critically acclaimed Sonoma chardonnay and pinot noir specialist, has done just that. Earlier this year, he purchased his winery back from Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which has owned the brand since 2016.
“Buying Patz & Hall back from Ste. Michelle was a ridiculous daydream,” Hall told me via email. “I never thought it would be possible. In fact, thinking about it was not healthy. Don’t torture yourself with something that will never happen.” He ticks off all the reasons he should have been happy — he had sold the winery while retaining his role as head winemaker and making some of the best wines of his career. “I felt it was time to think about retiring,” he says. “My partner Anne Moses retired in April of 2021, and I could see how happy she was, so count me in!”
In May 2023, Hall appointed James McCeney as Senior Winemaker, while assuming the role of Founder & Winemaker Emeritus. But he kept hearing the siren call of regaining the winery, despite the many advantages of the relationship with Ste. Michelle. Perhaps because he hadn’t been expecting to sell to begin with.
“We had no intention of selling Patz & Hall in 2016,” Hall recalls. “We had just completed an extensive planning process, mapping out our strategy for the next three years. Sales were good, we had financial stability and we felt things were going very well.” But he and his partners heard through a wine business broker that Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was looking for a Sonoma winery that produced Chardonnay and Pinot, and the chairman of the Patz & Hall board thought it couldn’t hurt to hear them out. The thinking was it would be a great exercise in valuing the company— something that is not easy for a family-run business. But then Ste. Michelle Wine Estates made a big offer — one they couldn’t refuse, Hall says. “The four partners took some time to think it over and we concluded that we could not pass up such an exceptional opportunity.”
Patz & Hall owns no vineyards, instead relying on deep relationships with some of the most acclaimed growers in Sonoma, so Hall’s first concern was to keep that grower group together. “Often in a sale, the first thing the new owner does is cancel grape contracts and reload with cheaper grapes,” Hall says. “I had spent years making great wine and learning from the incredible group of vineyard folks we worked with. I didn’t want them cut off with no buyer.” To his delight, all of those growers—people like Larry
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