France’s Skalli Bides Time Marketing California Wine

When a foreign company decides to get involved in the California wine business, it isn’t usually an overnight thought, a quick purchase of land and an instant wine on the shelf.

Take the case of Skalli S.A. of France and its decision to buy hundreds of acres of Napa Valley land and build a winery that could annually produce up to 150,000 cases of wine.

Skalli, a family venture that produces rice and pasta, began looking in 1981, and in 1982 plunked down a reported $3 million for land. That was at a time the dollar was strong and the cost of American goods far more expensive for foreigners than today.

“We’re here for the long haul,” said Pat Tracy, manager of the property for Robert Skalli, who is to become president of the new winery.

The venture remains about a year away from releasing its first wine, but a well-placed industry source said the family will spend $10 million by the end of 1989. Its first brand is tentatively named Atkinson Manor in honor of the 1881 Victorian house on the property, which is on Highway 29, between Beaulieu Vineyard and Robert Mondavi Winery. A premium brand, Skalli Atkinson, is expected to be used for reserve-quality wines.

The first wines will be released in 1989, Tracy said. Some 11,000 cases are divided among a 1987 Chardonnay, a 1987 Sauvignon Blanc and a 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon.

The winery will be flanked by 38 acres already planted to grapes, and the company also owns a 1,500-acre ranch in neighboring Pope Valley, 309 acres of which are planted.

Besides pasta and rice, Skalli S.A. also is in the wine business as a negociant , or broker, in the south of France, producing 600,000 cases a year of varietal wines under the Fortant de France label.