Chateau Ste. Michelle relocating operations closer to Tri-Cities
The largest winemaker in the Pacific Northwest is looking to relocate its headquarters to Eastern Washington, and that could mean big business for the Tri-Cities. The company has deeps roots in Benton and Walla Walla counties.
Chateau Ste. Michelle was sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $1.2 billion last summer. It was previously owned by tobacco giant Altria.
Now the state’s oldest winemaker is looking to consolidate operations, shifting to Eastern Washington where most of its grapes are grown and its red wines are already produced.
It’s unclear what they plan to do with their current headquarters, the chateau the brand is named for, just outside of Seattle in Woodinville.
That’s because the company’s famous Reisling and white wines are produced in Woodinville, while the grapes are grown in the Columbia valley.
Lynda Eller, director of communications, told the Tri-City Herald in an email that the cost of operating hundreds of miles away from its vineyards was a major driving factor in the decision to relocate.
“We recently made the decision to consolidate our white wine production in Woodinville to our Eastern Washington facilities, where we make our Chateau Ste. Michelle red wines, starting with the 2022 harvest,” Eller said. “Producing wine in Woodinville so far removed from our Eastern Washington vineyards has resulted in decades of shipping millions of gallons of white wine to our Woodinville facility and burning nearly 75,000 gallons of diesel through over 1,600 freight trips each year.”
Eller said they have not yet decided if the Woodinville property will be sold, and that the process is still in an exploratory phase that could take years to implement.
“With this change to our winemaking operations, we are evaluating how to best utilize the facility going forward, including exploring a potential sale of our Woodinville property, or perhaps a portion of it,” she said.
Eller also noted that their 2022 summer concert series will continue as planned.
It’s unclear which, if any, of the Eastern Washington sites will be considered for their new headquarters.
Chateau Ste. Michelle owns several facilities and brands in the Tri-Cities area. Their largest site is just south of the Tri-Cities in Paterson, where they operate the Canoe Ridge Estate winemaking facility and Columbia Crest. The Canoe Ridge facility is where the company makes its red wines.
They also operate Col Solare at Red Mountain and 14 Hands Winery in Prosser. In the Walla Walla are they have Intrinsic Wine Co., Spring Valley Vineyard and Northstar Winery.
In Oregon, Ste. Michelle operates Erath Winery. They also own Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa Valley and Patz & Hall in Sonoma, Calif.
This story was originally published July 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
