Company Interview Excerpt
THOMAS SELFRIDGE - CHALONE WINE GROUP (CHLN)
Full article published: 01/19/2004
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Mr. Selfridge: We're a collection of fine wine estates. We call ourselves the patron of the wine arts because we centralize certain operations, such as administration, sales, and marketing, but we allow each individual winery to be the artist in creating the wines. We never market our wineries as a group. Each winery is a separate entity in terms of the consumer perception. We feel that's better for the kind of price points we sell. The wine trade certainly knows us as a group, but to the consumer, each winery has its own personality and focus. We have wineries from the southern end of the growing region in California up through eastern Washington. Starting in the south, we, along with our 50% joint-venture partner, Paragon Vineyard, own Edna Valley Vineyard, which specializes in Chardonnays. It's an estate vineyard and this is our only partnership. Coming north, we own Echelon Vineyards, which is our entry into the 10 to 13 category. Echelon focuses on the Central Coast appellation and specializes in pinot noir. Chalone Vineyard is high in the Gavilan Mountains on the east side of the Salinas Valley. It's the estate vineyard where we began, so we call it the 'mother church' of the company. It specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We own Moon Mountain Vineyard in Sonoma, which has an estate-grown Cabernet. Dynamite Vineyards focuses on Cabernet from Lake County and Merlot from Mendocino County and sells in roughly the 15 to 20 category. In Napa County, we own Acacia Vineyard, which is in the Carneros region of Napa. It specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Jade Mountain is a small niche winery that focuses on Rhone varietals, specifically Syrah from Napa at the high end. And our newest winery is Provenance Vineyards in Napa, which focuses on a Cabernet from the Rutherford subappellation of Napa and a Merlot from the Carneros district of Napa; those wines sell in the 28 to 35 range.
Tickers included in this excerpt: CHLN
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