Christian Brothers Denies Rumors It Will Sell Winery
Napa Valley’s 107-year-old Christian Brothers winery, whose profits help finance operation of a dozen Catholic schools, including Los Angeles’ Cathedral High, flatly denies widespread rumors that it may be sold.
“We’re busy with other projects,” Richard L. Maher, president of Christian Brothers Sales Co., said in an interview at the winery’s headquarters here.
The company rang up more than $100 million in sales last year, three-quarters of it from brandy, according to industry sources.
Christian Brothers owns 1,200 acres of prime Napa Valley vineyards, a modern winery in St. Helena, and also has converted picturesque century-old Greystone Cellars into a major tourist attraction north of town.
It has been rumored to be a target of Hiram Walker-Allied Vintners, a Detroit-based subsidiary of the British distillery, Allied-Lyons PLC. At least four other companies have been mentioned as suitors, including Heublein Inc. A subsidiary of London-based Grand Metropolitan PLC, Heublein already owns Beaulieu Vineyards and Inglenook in the Napa Valley and Almaden, which it recently relocated from San Jose to the San Joaquin Valley.
Hiram Walker spokesman Henry Pomeroy acknowledged the rumors, too, but said he knew of “no forthcoming announcement” of a deal with Christian Brothers’ parent, Mount LaSalle Vineyards.
