Jackson Family Wines makes its first Washington State purchase in Walla Walla vineyard property

Jackson Family Wines of Santa Rosa has made its first purchase in Washington with a 61-acre property in the Walla Walla Valley with plans to further grow in the Evergreen State.

The company on Thursday announced it had bought the vineyard — which has 40 acres of planted vines — from the Abeja winery, which originally developed and planted the site in 2016. It is in the Mill Creek area in the eastern region of the Walla Walla Valley.

The deal is significant as Jackson over the past decade has focused more on Oregon, especially the Willamette Valley and its growing reputation for producing premium Burgundian varietals.

Beyond buying such wineries as WillaKenzie Estate and Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, it also has a large winery facility McMinnville in Oregon.

The company said in a statement that “over the next several years” it will develop its Washington operation.

The wines from the new vineyard will be overseen by winemaker Chris Carpenter and his team as part of a new brand under development. Carpenter leads the winemaking at Cardinale and Lokoya in Napa Valley and Hickinbotham in McLaren Vale, Australia, for Jackson.

“We know Walla Walla Valley is an exceptional region in North America for growing cabernet sauvignon and syrah, and this particular site in Mill Creek possesses ideal conditions in terms of soils, elevation and climate,” said Christopher Jackson, second-generation proprietor of the company.

Shafer Vineyards announces new general manager

Shafer Vineyards has named Matthew Sharp as its new general manager as the family-owned winery in the Napa Valley transitions into new ownership by a large South Korean conglomerate.

Sharp had previously served five years as Shafer’s commercial director, a position where he oversaw all aspects of domestic and global sales.

“Bringing Matthew into the business at this level is an exciting moment,” said Doug Shafer, who took over the business from his father, John Shafer, in 1994. “He steps into the position with an enormous portfolio of industry experience and is poised to move Shafer into a great new chapter.”

Shafer in February announced that he was selling the winery, which produces about 30,000 cases annually and has more than 200 estate vineyard acres, to Shinsegae Property. A Korean newspaper put the purchase price at about $250 million.

Event features Winiarski and his mentees

The Napa Valley Wine Library Association will hold its annual seminar April 21 that will feature legendary winemaker Warren Winiarski in discussion with his former mentees from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.

The event will be held Frog’s Leap Winery in Rutherford and include such mentees as John Williams of Frog’s Leap; John Kongsgaard of Kongsgaard; Françoise Peschon of Drinkward Peschon and Heimark Vineyard; Michael Silacci of Opus One, and Nicki Pruss of Nicolette Christopher.

The reception begins at 5 p.m. and the program starts 30 minutes later. Tickets are $60 per person and can be purchased at the group’s website: https://bit.ly/37TseJh

Compiled by Bill Swindell. Submit items to bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com.