Santa Rosa’s Vintners Resort acquired by Jackson wine family, Southern California investment group

The family behind the Kendall-Jackson and La Crema wine brands were part of an investment group that purchased 92-acre Vintners Resort with its iconic John Ash & Co. restaurant north of Santa Rosa from the founding Carano family.

Jackson Family Wines Chairman and proprietor Barbara Banke and her family joined with Southern California-based commercial real estate owner, operator and developer Ensemble Investments LLC to acquire the 78-room Vintners Resort and Spa hotel, conference and event spaces, John Ash establishment, River Vine restaurant and surrounding flower and culinary gardens, fig and olive orchards and estate vineyards.

For the past few days, the transaction was rumored to be in the works and partly confirmed by a May 26 notice of a pending liquor license transfer from Carano family operations to Ensemble Hotel Partners. On May 31, the buyers and sellers confirmed the deal, which closed the same day.

“The Vintners Resort has special meaning to our family. We have known the Carano family for a long time, and we’ve celebrated many family meals and milestones at John Ash & Co restaurant,” Banke said in the announcement. “Vintners Resort has been a symbol of wine country luxury and local sustainability in Sonoma County for many years. It’s a central hub within our Russian River Valley winemaking community and we look forward to collaborating with Ensemble to enhance its reputation as a premiere, world-class wine country destination.”

Donald and Rhonda Carano started Sonoma County’s Ferrari-Carano Winery in 1979 and purchased Vintners Inn in 2000. The Reno, Nevada-based family business has stakes in the Silverado hotel casino there. Donald Carano died in 2017, and winemaker Rhonda turned over leadership of the winery later that year. She sold the winery to Foley Family Wines in 2019.

“After 23 years, it is time for me to step back and smell the roses,” said Rhonda Carano in the announcement. “I feel very fortunate that our family will be able to pass the torch to another well-respected Sonoma County team. I welcome the Jackson family and Ensemble, and I have no doubt they will continue to build on the legacy of Vintners Resort and move forward with new and exciting developments.”

Ensemble will take over day-to-day management of Vintners Resort. Brian Sommer will continue as general manager, reporting to Kristi Allen, executive vice president of hotels.

Ensemble has been been looking for a North Coast investment.

“We have long admired and enjoyed spending time in the Sonoma region and have desired to own and manage a resort here for many years,” said Michael Moskowitz, CEO of Ensemble, in the news release. “We have been searching for the right opportunity, where we can contribute our development and management expertise, and there’s no doubt this is it. This partnership and acquisition are strategic outgrowths of the success of Bernardus, our luxury hotel in Carmel Valley, and our portfolio of highly individualized hotels.”

The buyers said they “will prioritize its family culture and workforce longevity“ in considering staffing decisions at the resort.

The Vintners Inn was started by the late John Duffy from a 50-acre prune orchard on Barnes and River roads that he converted to a vineyard, according to The Press Democrat. Duffy in 1983 built the 44-room hotel on the property and later added John Ash & Co. Duffy sold the property, then called Vintner’s Inn, to the Caranos in 2000.

John Ash, often called the “father of wine country cuisine, said that it was because of prestige that his namesake restaurant relocated in 1988 from the Montgomery Village shopping center location where it started in 1980.

“My investors at the time, all doctors, wanted something classier than a shopping center,” Ash said.

He had made friends with Duffy, who wanted to add a restaurant to the hotel. But Ash hear skepticism about the new location, which four decades ago wasn’t as built up.

“They told me at the time that nobody would come because it was so far out in the country,” Ash said.

Poppy Bank in Santa Rosa participated in financing the Vintners Resort purchase.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.

Update, June 6, 2023: John Ash comments on the relocation of his restaurant to what was then called Vintner’s Inn.

Correction: John Duffy opened Vintners Inn in 1984 and sold it to the Caranos in 2000.