The French luxury goods house LVMH has announced that it is expanding its portfolio of northern Californian wineries with the purchase of high-end producer Joseph Phelps.
Phelps has produced sought-after bottles from Napa and Sonoma for almost 50 years. The winery’s top cuvée – Insignia – was one of Napa’s first Bordeaux-style Cabernet blends and helped the region’s new style of wine to gain recognition in the 1970s.
The purchase means that Moët Hennessey has now deepened its foothold in California where it already owns three other wineries: Domaine Chandon, Newton Vineyard and Colgin Cellars.
Included in the sale is the Phelps brand, winery and inventory, as well as approximately 500 acres in vineyards in Napa and Sonoma counties. No purchase price was disclosed.
Moët Hennessy Chairman and CEO Philippe Schaus said that Joseph Phelps is ‘an iconic name and an iconic winery’. ‘It’s important for us that we are acquiring a family business with a legacy and heritage. It’s super important that we keep that heritage.’
For Schaus, Moët Hennessy’s aim is to be able to offer ‘all the different moments of consumption’: from apéritifs, Champagne and fine dining wines to bars, clubs and cocktails. The company’s Cloudy Bay brand covers white wines and its Whispering Angel line offers rosé, but, Schaus commented, ‘we were missing a strong red wine.’
It’s clear than LVMH ‘s purchase of this Napa stalwart fits comfortably into its portfolio, as Schaus declared: ‘Joseph Phelps has been to the Napa Valley what Nicolas Ruinart, Mrs. Clicquot, Joseph Krug and Claude Moët were to the Champagne region and likewise we will continue to develop this new House in the respect of the founder’s heritage and vision.’
