56-year-old California winery closes down, lays off all workers
In what could be called the Great Wine Decline, the wine industry has suffered a 21% decrease in revenue from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 through 2025, which has led to a surge in winery closings.
The wine sector’s total revenue fell by $19.7 billion over the six-year period, or from $94 billion in 2020 to $74.3 billion in 2025, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the U.S. Wine Industry Report.
Industry experts blame a decline in consumption by its top demographic, Baby Boomers, for the slowdown in wine sales.
The most recent closure was a major California winery, Kenwood Vineyards, which closed its operations on March 27, according to its website, with no estimated date for resuming its business.
“Kenwood Vineyards is closed until further notice. Check back in April for updates,” a message on the website stated.
The Kenwood, Calif., winery’s owner, Pernod Ricard Kenwood Holding LLC, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter with the California Employment Development Department on March 23, asserting that it would permanently close the business by March 31 and lay off all 14 employees by that date.
The Sonoma Valley-based winery will likely reopen under new ownership, as Pernod Ricard sold the 33-acre Kenwood Vineyards for $4 million to Kenwood Winery Land LLC, which is led by Gary Heck, owner of F. Korbel & Bros., the producer of Korbel California Champagne and Brandy, the Press Democrat reported.
F. Korbel returns as owner of Kenwood Vineyards after selling the winery to Pernod Ricard in May 2014 for under $100 million. The real estate alone was valued at $7.2 million, according to county records at the time.
Korbel purchased half ownership in Kenwood Vineyards 30 years ago and took full ownership in 1999. The winery’s production grew from about 300,000 cases annually to about half a million when Pernod Ricard purchased it in 2014, according to the Press Democrat.
Kenwood Vineyards was Pernod Ricard’s first Sonoma County purchase as part of a U.S. expansion in 2014, but it was also its last wine holding before the recent sale, as the company has shifted its focus to spirits.
Before selling the Kenwood winery, Pernod Ricard sold its Mumm Napa label in December to Napa Valley-based Trinchero Family Wine & Spirits.
Two other major California wineries also announced facility closings and filed WARN notices before Kenwood Vineyards’ closing.
E. & J. Gallo, the largest wine company in the U.S., is permanently closing its Ranch Winery in St. Helena, Calif., and laying off all 56 employees by April 15, 2026, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice it filed with the California Employment Development Department on Feb. 12.
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