LVMH buying Colgin?

A friend just told me that Colgin has sold to LVMH for 60 million USD. Has anyone heard this?

“A few weeks ago, after twenty-five years on the hillside, Ann Colgin and her husband Joe Wender decided to sell 60% of their shares of Colgin Cellars to the LVMH group . According to our sources, the field is now valued at 100 million euros. A little more than five million per hectare. A Burgundy price.”

As Thanksgiving approaches, I wanted to offer our sincere thanks and appreciation for your enthusiastic support. For the last quarter of a century, we have dedicated ourselves at Colgin Cellars to crafting wines of perfume, freshness, and minerality from hillside vineyards within the Napa Valley.
I am writing you today with some exciting news for the future. We have agreed to enter into a strategic partnership with Bernard Arnault and LVMH. Under the terms of the agreement, my husband Joe and I have sold a sixty percent stake to the LVMH Group while continuing to hold forty percent equity in the business and maintaining our leadership functions. Our talented winery team will continue to be lead by Joe and myself along with COO, Paul Roberts, MS and Winemaker, Allison Tauziet. We are happy that our entire staff will remain in place and continue to offer our customers the unique and high-end experiences we’ve always created.
I realized that I could not find a better partner for Colgin Cellars to preserve our founding spirit and our exquisitely handcrafted red wines, into the future. Be assured that the level of quality and attention you have come to expect from us will continue for many decades to come.
In announcing the agreement, Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH stated “We share with Colgin Cellars the same desire to offer the very best quality products. I am therefore delighted to welcome Colgin’s unique heritage into LVMH, reaffirming our strategy of selective acquisition of the best existing terroirs, and enriching our collection of iconic wines such as Château Cheval Blanc, Château d’Yquem and Domaine du Clos des Lambrays.”
In honor of our 25th Anniversary, we created a short film that showcases our journey. Please follow the link: Colgin “An Uncommon Journey”
Please let us know if you have any questions which we may answer. Our best wishes for a safe and bountiful holiday season!
With Gratitude,

Ann Colgin

Wonder what the employee discount is on Cheval Blanc and Krug

As Thanksgiving approaches, I wanted to offer our sincere thanks and appreciation for your enthusiastic support. For the last quarter of a century, we have dedicated ourselves at Colgin Cellars to crafting wines of perfume, freshness, and minerality from hillside vineyards within the Napa Valley.

I am writing you today with some exciting news for the future. We have agreed to enter into a strategic partnership with Bernard Arnault and LVMH. Under the terms of the agreement, my husband Joe and I have sold a sixty percent stake to the LVMH Group while continuing to hold forty percent equity in the business and maintaining our leadership functions. Our talented winery team will continue to be lead by Joe and myself along with COO, Paul Roberts, MS and Winemaker, Allison Tauziet. We are happy that our entire staff will remain in place and continue to offer our customers the unique and high-end experiences we’ve always created.

I realized that I could not find a better partner for Colgin Cellars to preserve our founding spirit and our exquisitely handcrafted red wines, into the future. Be assured that the level of quality and attention you have come to expect from us will continue for many decades to come.
In announcing the agreement, Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH stated “We share with Colgin Cellars the same desire to offer the very best quality products. I am therefore delighted to welcome Colgin’s unique heritage into LVMH, reaffirming our strategy of selective acquisition of the best existing terroirs, and enriching our collection of iconic wines such as Château Cheval Blanc, Château d’Yquem and Domaine du Clos des Lambrays.”

In honor of our 25th Anniversary, we created a short film that showcases our journey. Please follow the link: Colgin “An Uncommon Journey”

Please let us know if you have any questions which we may answer. Our best wishes for a safe and bountiful holiday season!

With Gratitude,

Ann Colgin

A friend of mine got the letter. He wrote me an email, said the letter should have said the below. Funny to me so I’m posting.

Thanks (X) for being a client and overpaying for our limited production of wines for so long that we caught the attention of a billionaire buyer.
Now we are wealthy too and we can keep bumping prices without fear of losing your business since we have mainly cashed out and don’t care if you remain a client or not.
We appreciate that you made all those silly economic decisions that enabled us to get rich.

Ann Colgin needed to outdo Fred Schrader.

…and she succeeded at least in terms of buyers

lvmh is worth more than constellation? i guess they just have more brands under the umbrella.

I guess now special bottles will be kissed by Bernard Arnault instead of Ann. Doubt he looks as good in lipstick.

that is one funny comment

LVMH market cap ~ 150B
Constellation Brands cap~40B

This is the apotheosis of the marriage of American capitalism and wine culture, ala Napa Valley.

There’s a pretty huge difference between Colgin and Schrader in that Colgin actually owned vineyards. So this is not just buying a brand but acquiring real estate, and valuable real estate at that.

My worry is that the vast amounts of money squeeze out the smaller producers that I adore, but for now Napa red wines are still approachable.

BTW I have loved the few Colgin wines I’ve had, as well as the (fewer) Schraders. I’m not buying either. And I have to congratulate these folks on their amazing successes.