Healdsburg Wine Bosses Take Back Truett Hurst, VML Wineries

Healdsburg wine brands Truett Hurst and VML have a buyer, about five months after they went on the market — and it’s the same guy who founded them back in 2008. Phil Hurst sold his beloved little empire to a large, Washington-based business called Precept Wine Co. around six years ago. So when that company started to struggle and put Truett Hurst up for sale late last year, Phil seized the opportunity to take back what he built — with a little help from his friend and local wine magnate Ken Wilson, of Wilson Wines. They’re calling it a “groundbreaking partnership” — one that will leverage the Wilsons’ vast infrastructure in town, including the Rockpile tasting room along the roundabout. More from their press release: “Together Hurst and Wilson plan to invest in crafting world-class, award-winning wines and create a downtown Healdsburg tasting room experience that captures the essence and personality of the wineries. Hurst will oversee winemaking in conjunction with longtime winemaker, Ross Reedy. Hurst’s son Clay continues the legacy and will manage the tasting room. Wilson’s team of expert viticulturalists, production, finance and marketing will oversee operations and brand development. Wilson will personally design both tasting rooms and create exciting new consumer experiences.” The new tasting room at 113 Mill St. will reportedly open as soon as this week. Meanwhile, what the sale did NOT include — because Hurst says he and Wilson couldn’t afford it — was the picturesque, 24-acre Dry Creek Road home of the Truett Hurst and VML winery, vineyards and tasting room. Instead, a new-ish local brand called Aesthete Wines bought Truett’s old location last month — and the new Aesthete tasting room at 5610 Dry Creek Rd. is already open for business, according to their website. Their winemaker is Jesse Katz, the same Healdsburg hotshot behind Aperture Cellars on the other side of town. And for Aesthete in particular, he says he’s focusing on “the unique soils and cool climate at Dry Stack Vineyard in the Bennett Valley AVA of Sonoma County.” But back to the Truett deal for a minute. It’s reportedly part of an interesting recent trend wherein winery founders are coming back around to reclaim their brainchildren and give them a fighting chance. (A Resurrection, if you will.) Hurst tells the San Francisco Chronicle: “We’re seeing a downturn in the wine industry. Could it be because these corporate entities don’t have the personality? Us founders know how to sell wine.” The paper reports that Hurst is the “third California vintner in six months to reclaim a wine business he founded and sold. The deal follows last week’s news that James Hall, co-founder of famed Sonoma producer Patz & Hall, repurchased the winery from wine giant Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. In December, noted Anderson Valley winemaker Douglas Stewart reacquired his acclaimed brand Breggo from Fel Wines, which was owned by Napa’s Cliff Lede Vineyards.” The Chronicle asks: “Is the timing of these similar transactions sheer coincidence, or indicative of a pendulum swing away from the wine industry’s contentious consolidation trend?” (Source: North Bay Business Journal & Wine Industry Advisor & Truett Hurst & Aesthete & SF Chronicle)