Jackson family buys into new AVA

Jackson Family Vineyards has completed the latest in a series of major acquisitions with the purchase of an 877-acre property in California’s recently created Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak AVA.

The recently created Pine Mountain-Clover Peak AVA

Previously owned by the Seghesio family, no vineyards are currently planted on the estate but it is thought that more than 280 acres on the hilly property offer a gradient suitable for viticulture.

Bordering Alexander Valley in northern Sonoma, the Pine Mountain-Clover Peak AVA in Mendocino County was created at the end of 2011 and claims to be one of California’s highest elevation grape growing regions. Red Bordeaux varieties dominate, with just 230 acres of the 4,750-acre AVA currently under vine.

Among the AVA’s existing vineyard owners are Silverwood Ranch, Pine Mountain Vineyards and Tin Cross Vineyards, which supply grapes for names including Frances Ford Coppola Winery and Captûre Wines.

The Jackson family, which owns over 14,000 acres across more than 35 wineries in California alone, including its Kendall-Jackson flagship, is understood to have completed the deal at the end of December, although no financial details have been released.

This latest purchase follows the family’s 2012 acquisitions of Sonoma properties Richard’s Grove, Saralee’s Vineyard and Ramal West Vineyard, as well as the historic Clarendon Vineyard in McLaren Vale, Australia. The latter demonstrated the family’s interest in adding to its international estate portfolio, which already reaches from Tuscany to Chile and St Emilion.