Canada’s Mike Weir Wine placed into receivership

A court in Ontario has placed Niagara-based Mick Weir Wine Inc into receivership with debts of over CAN$6 million following a legal battle between champion golfer Mike Weir and talk show host Robert McCown.

Image: www.mikeweir.com – Stephen Dunn.

According to court documents, the company that produced, marketed and sold wine from the Beamsville winery now owes golfer Weir around $2.2 million and the Royal Bank of Canada about $4.3 million.

In October 2017, Weir who won The Masters in 2003, sold all his shares in the company to broadcaster McCown. According the court, McCown had first become involved with the business in 2013 when a company he was also involved in acquired 15% of the company’s shares. The radio host also bought Stony Ridge winery in Ontario in the same year.

As part of the sale of his shares, Weir was issued with three promissory notes from the wine company that were due to be paid to him a year later. However, by 20 October 2018, the money had still not been repaid, some of which is secured against the winery and its physical assets.

Weir filed an application last month to ask the court to arrange the sale of the wine business in order for the new owner to be in possession of the business in time to tend to the vines and harvest a crop in 2019.

The winery was first put up for sale in October 2017 for $10.9 million. The sale price subsequently dropped twice, firstly to $8.9 million and then to $7.5 million.

Its retail store ceased trading on 29 April while a message on the website at the time said: “Mike Weir wines will continue to be available at the LCBO and limited quantities will be available here for direct shipping while supplies last. Thank you all for your years of support. Cheers from the Mike Weir Winery team”.

McCown has now asked for a short delay in order to negotiate the sale of the business to a potential buyer.

According reports by Canadian media, he said that claims that the business is in danger and requires a receiver to support it are “wrong”.

The Mike Weir Wine label was created in 2005 and the winery centre officially opened in 2014. The day-to-day operations were once managed by Weir’s brother, Jim, alongside industry veteran Barry Katzman.

All profits from the winery went to the Mike Weir Foundation, which supported charities including Autism Speaks, the Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the BC Children’s Hospital.