SND: You’re noteworthy for owning and operating so many wineries—more than 40 in all. How would you describe the company’s management style of those wineries?

Tigner: All the Jackson Family wineries function independently and utilize their own local expertise. If you’re the general manager or winemaker waking up in Oregon, you approach the day from an Oregonian perspective. That’s true regardless of whether you wake up in Oregon, Italy, or Australia. It’s not a “California” perspective—it’s a local mindset that drives the business, including our go-to-market strategies. Each of our wineries has its own distinct imprimatur and style, driven by the terroir and our trust in the winemakers and vineyard managers. What the company offers is access to shared resources. We’re able to provide enhanced sales, marketing, distribution, and back-office administrative support.

SND: La Crema has expanded by nearly 70% since 2010. Is La Crema a model you would follow for other brands in the portfolio?

Tigner: We often talk about building the “next” La Crema. La Crema has tapped into a space where it’s evocative of a certain kind of elegant, cool lifestyle. We have several estate wineries that are also capturing that same adoration—Siduri, Brewer-Clifton, Cambria, and Penner-Ash, to name a few. All of them, along with La Crema, are attainable and produce consistently high-quality wines.

SND: The Kendall-Jackson brand retains huge importance to the company. How would you describe its role today, compared to two decades ago?

Tigner: Kendall-Jackson is the foundation for everything we do, and is still the heart of our business. Quality at scale is what drives its success. At our entry point for KJ, Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir continues to be a top-ranking wine in America. And of course, Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay has been the number-one (super-premium) wine in the U.S. market since 1992 and is holding strong. When Jess Jackson started out, he wanted everyone to have access to a quality wine, and we continue that vision today. We look at every step in the process to make sure we’re crafting a premium wine—including sustainably farmed grapes, barrel-aging, and hand-stirring the lees. Our Jackson Estate wines were created to tell that quality story—with our Outland Ridge Pinot Noir scoring 90+ points with the critics.

SND: What’s the latest on your activity in Oregon? Will you continue to expand there?

Tigner: It was natural for us to expand into the Willamette Valley, as cool-climate Pinot Noir is one of our specialties and there are some incredible wines coming out of the region. Since 2013, when we made our first land purchase there, we’ve been honing and expanding our Oregon portfolio. Today the Oregon lineup includes Zena Crown Vineyards, Gran Moraine, Penner-Ash, and WillaKenzie, as well as La Crema- and Siduri-made Oregon wines. We opened our winery in McMinnville last year, and continue to see a lot of opportunity there.

News Briefs:

•Sterling Vineyards, part of the Treasury Wine Estates portfolio, is launching a new line of wines packaged in resealable aluminum bottles. Retailing at $8 a 375-ml., the new range initially includes Sterling Vintner's Collection Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rosé offerings. Sterling’s aluminum bottles are targeted at sporting and concert events and other on-the-go occasions. The 375-ml. wine category has been growing by strong double-digits in IRI channels over the past year, up 54% in dollar sales and 35% by volume.

Craft Brewing and Distilling News:

•Bend, Oregon-based GoodLife Brewing has added two new beers, Sippy Cup Hazy Pale Ale and Bavarian Lager, to its year-round draft exclusive portfolio. Sippy Cup is a 6.4% abv ale brewed with a yeast strain named Juice, plus Galaxy, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops. The second release is a Helles-style lager that clocks in at 5% abv and is brewed with a blend of traditional Saaz hops and other American bittering hops. The two new beers are rolling out now throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Vermont, and Hawaii.

•Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia has launched a new offering, Sassy Rye, and rebranded and repackaged its line of craft spirits by unifying their offerings under the Copper Fox name. Sassy Rye is a single malt whiskey distilled from 100% Virginia rye. It’s floor malted and smoked with Virginia sassafras wood, then double pot-distilled, and aged in Bourbon barrels. Founder and master distiller Rick Wasmund said the rebranding effort “helps cut down on confusion as it didn’t seem that people understood our Copper Fox Rye ($60, 45% abv) and Wasmund’s Single Malt ($55, 48% abv) were from the same distillery.” In operation since 2005, Copper Fox distributes in 22 states along both coasts.

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