Haywood gets label back

Haywood owns name again

If a modern-day Homer were to write the Odyssey of a wine label, he would have to look no further than the saga of Peter Haywood. As of last week, Haywood's storied label has returned home after a 15-year journey through the stormy seas of international wine trade, blown by the winds of fortune from one gigantic corporation to another.

The story began in 1973 when Haywood purchased 280 acres of hillside land on Gehricke Road at the southeastern side of Sonoma Valley. Three years later, he planted 75 acres (and eventually 90) in wine grapes and named his vineyard "Los Chamizal," Spanish for "thicket of hardwoods." By 1980, he had purchased a small nearby winery, crushed his first grapes and began selling wines under the Haywood label. The quality and popularity of his estate-grown zinfandels grew, but in 1991 a wine glut and other factors led him to sell his wine label to Racke International, the company that also owned Buena Vista Winery.

Haywood kept his Los Chamizal Vineyards and continued to supervise the production of the zinfandels under the Haywood label. In 2001 the Haywood brand, along with Buena Vista, was acquired by the international wine conglomerate Allied Domecq, which then sold it in 2005 to Beam Wine Estates. Beam was recently purchased by another giant, Constellation Brands. But before Beam closed the deal with Constellation, Haywood was able to buy back his label, along with some of the 2005-2006 wine inventory. It took him several more months to reactivate all of the licenses he needed, and finally this month he is releasing 3,400 cases of his Los Chamizal zinfandel at a suggested retail price of $30 a bottle, along with 200 six-bottle cases of Morning Sun Zinfandel at $40 a bottle, and 300 six-bottle cases of Rocky Terrace Zinfandel also at $40 a bottle.

Fortunately for Haywood, during the label ownership odyssey the actual winemaking operation never left Sonoma Valley, having remained at Buena Vista. Starting with the 2007 vintage, however, Haywood will move his wine production to Deerfield Ranch Winery in Kenwood.

Now that he has his name back, Haywood intends to concentrate on putting the "unique mountain terroir" of his zinfandel vineyards into his wines. "Retaking ownership of my brand enables me to again pursue the pleasure of making fine wine from grapes that I personally grow," Haywood noted. "This is a special vineyard and one of the best for zinfandel in California. It is a rare opportunity to be able to continue with an effort that started more than 27 years ago."

Haywood said he will intentionally keep his production relatively small and manageable, allowing it to grow from its current level of between 4,000 to 5,000 cases a year up to about 7,000 cases, but no more.

He said the emphasis will continue to be on his three estate zinfandels, each possessing the unique character from the location wherein it is grown. He will continue selling the other grapes he grows on the estate -mainly red Bordeaux varieties - to other wineries, as he has done for many years.

Half the Haywood wine production will be sold direct via the Haywood wine club and Web site, while the other half will be nationally distributed in 42 states by Napa wholesaler Anders-Lane.