What’s going on in Monterey County?
Just weeks after trade group Monterey County Vintners & Growers announced it is disbanding, one of the region’s biggest growers has confirmed it will cease operations at the end of the year after five decades of viticulture. The vineyard’s president says: “you have to have a lot of money in the bank to make it to the other side.”
Valley Farm Management, which farms 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) of grapes in Soledad, Monterey County, on the Central Coast of California, confirmed this week that it will cease operations at the end of 2025. Calling it “a very difficult decision”, Jason Smith, president and second-generation owner of Valley Farm Management, added: “at the same time, if you just purely look at the numbers, it was a pretty easy decision”.
“We’ve always been contracted, we were 90% contracted last year. This year we were 50% contracted, and we’ve looked at the economics of that,” he explained.
Despite having what Smith describes as “many good relationships with small wineries and big wineries”, he told broadcast channel KSBW Action News that “the wineries are in no better shape than the grape growing community.”
The bottom line, he said, is “we have many more grapes than we have demand for wine bottles.”
“You have to have a lot of money in the bank to make it to the other side, and we didn’t necessarily have that so we made a decision to wind down our operations after 51 years.”
Award winning wines
Valley Farm Management, located in the Salinas Valley, is “a full-service vineyard management company” specialising in “growing and harvesting premium-quality fruit in and around Monterey County”. According to its website, the grower’s “premium winegrapes have produced award winning wines, and increased sales and profits, for our partners.”
Among the local producers it sells grapes to is Cru Winery, which crafts Pinot Noir, Syrah and Chardonnay priced at about US$25 to US$65 per bottle. According to Cru’s website, it sources fruit “from some of the finest vineyards throughout the Central Coast of California”, high praise indeed for Valley Farm Management.
So why is the grower unable to stay afloat, and what is happening in the region?
“Impossible to continue”
Just last month, db reported that trade organisation Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association is winding down operations after more than 40 years, revealing that “winery mergers and acquisitions” have made it “impossible to continue”.
The group’s president, Scott T Quilty, explained that the closure “reflects a series of significant industry shifts over the past few years. Many of the larger wineries and growers that historically provided the bulk of the Council’s funding have either consolidated or are no longer able to sustain the organisation financially.”
Partner Content
Speaking to local publication Edible Monterey Bay, grower Scott Caraccioli, a former president of the trade association’s board, explained: “Your ability as an organisation to be successful is reliant on membership. We [Monterey] are a big grower-based region, with fewer wineries than some AVAs, which have smaller acreage. Lose a couple of big ones and it becomes fiscally impossible. Then when others won’t renew, the choice is pretty obvious. It’s a hard thing, but it is what we needed to do.”
Transitional period
The last 10 years has seen shifting ownership and interests in Monterey, with many of the big boys moving in.
In 2017, Napa’s Duckhorn Wine Company snapped up Monterey business Calera and its 85 acres of vineyard, which founder Josh Jensen said at the time was “a wonderful way to ensure the future of Calera”. According to Jensen, Duckhorn promised to “stay true to the good old pursuit of quality”, but last year Duckhorn was itself acquired by private equity firm Butterfly in a US$1.95 billion deal, leaving the delivery of that promise uncertain.
Another Californian giant, E. & J. Gallo, then acquired the entire portfolio of Hahn Family Wines and the Hahn Family Wines Tasting Room in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey County, in June 2023. Steve Carlotti, senior vice president and general manager of Commercial Brands at Gallo said: “For over 40 years, the Hahn family and their incredible team have produced expressive terroir-driven, quality wines. This acquisition reinforces Gallo’s strategy for continued growth while supporting our goal of delivering superior quality at great value to our consumers across all usage occasions.”
At the time, the Gallo deal excluded Hahn’s vineyards assets, which the family retained. However, just a year later, in September 2024, the Hahn’s sold their 230-acre Doctors Vineyard in Monterey to Paso Robles producer Riboli Family Wines. Winemaker Anthony Riboli said: “We are excited to continue expanding in California. This investment builds on our commitment to producing wines of exceptional quality. We see so much potential in Doctors Vineyard. While we develop future plans, we are considering unique clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and alternative white wine varietals.”
The changing of hands continued this year in the form of a further significant deal when The Wine Group purchased six brands, three facilities and more than 2,670 hectares of vineyard from Constellation Brands. One of those production sites is in Monterey County, and at least one of the brands, Meiomi, sources its grapes from Monterey.
Monterey microclimate
Home to more than 200 vineyards and 65 tasting rooms, Monterey is known for its unique climate influenced by the Monterey Canyon, which brings a dense blanket of morning fog. More than 53 different grape varieties are grown across 45,000 acres (18,210 hectares) in the region, but much like other Californian appellations, Chardonnay is the big-hitting white variety while Pinot Noir rules the roost for reds.
Monterey County is also home to 9 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), including Arroyo Seco, Carmel Valley, Chalone, Gabilan Mountains, Hames Valley, Monterey, San Antonio Valley, San Bernabe, San Lucas, and Santa Lucia Highlands.
db has contacted a number of Monterey wineries for comment.
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