Kight adds Tandem to wine portfolio

 Peter Kight, founder of CheckFree and owner of Quivira Vineyards & Winery, has purchased the Sebastopol-based Tandem wine brand.

Terms of the deal, which closed Friday, were not disclosed.

Winemaker Greg La Follette, who founded Tandem in 2001, said the recession and his desire to spend more time with his family played roles in his decision to sell.

"My kids started calling me Uncle Dad," he said. "I got the message."

La Follette's 7,400-case wine brand had won critical acclaim, but it needed help to move to the next level of acquiring its own winery facility and vineyards.

"I just didn't have the financial muscle to do that," La Follette said.

Kight founded CheckFree, an Atlanta-based e-commerce firm that was sold in 2007 for $4.4 billion. He purchased Quivira in the Dry Creek Valley in 2006 and acquired Torbreck, an Australian wine brand, last year. Kight has established Wine Creek LLC to perform sales and marketing for his three brands.