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Vintage Wine Estates acquires Layer Cake Wines
California-based Vintage Wine Estates, owner of Close Pegase and Sonoma Coast Vineyards, has acquired the Layer Cake and If You See Kay wine brands.
If You See Kay, a Cabernet-based blend from Lazio
As reported by Wine Spectator, Vintage Wine Estates bought the brands from One True Vine for an undisclosed sum.
As part of the deal, Vintage Wine Estates’ partner, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, will look after the sales and marketing for the Layer Cake brand in the US, while the If You See Kay and Cherry Pie brands will be handled by VWE.
“We’re very excited to soon be leading the sales and marketing of Layer Cake,” Peter Deutsch, CEO of Deutsch Family, told Wine Spectator.
“In partnership with Vintage Wine Estates president Pat Roney and his team, we’ll drive existing and new items as part of our mission to grow the brand,” he added.
Founded by Jayson Woodbridge in 2004, Layer Cake’s current lineup includes a Malbec from Argentina, Primitivo from Italy, Shiraz from Australia and California Cabernet.
Woodbridge is also the man behind both Cherry Pie and If You See Kay – a Cabernet-based red blend from Lazio, which, when said aloud, sounds like the spelling of a four-letter expletive.
Back in 2012 Woodbridge landed in hot water over the cheekily-named wine with councilors in New Hampshire.
“This isn’t the welcome mat New Hampshire should display for tourists. We need to set a higher standard for sales and marketing – the label violates community standards,” councillor David Wheeler told local paper The Union Leader at the time.
However, James Joyce pipped Woodbridge to the post on the gag, which appears in his magnum opus Ulysses in the line: “If you see Kay, Tell him he may. See you in tea, Tell him from me.”
Woodbridge also founded the Hundred Acre wine brand, which shot to fame for its cult Cabernets made from a 10-acre vineyard in St Helena that sell for upwards of £400 a bottle.
Vintage Wine Estates has a broad portfolio, including the Game of Thrones wines and the Tall Dark Stranger brand.