Owners of Wilson wineries buying Jepson

Couple’s fifth winery includes 1,200-acre Mendocino ranch, rare distillery permit

Ken and Diane Wilson, the owners of four high-end Sonoma County wineries, are purchasing the sprawling Jepson Winery property in Mendocino County from an investment group.

The deal for the 1,200-acre ranch north of Hopland is expected to close by the end of the week, said Jon Pelleriti, chief financial officer for the Wilsons’ growing portfolio of wine brands.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

The property had been listed for $10.5 million last summer.

“It’s just a beautiful property, and the Wilsons are excited to have the opportunity to purchase it,” Pelleriti said.

The sale would add 120 acres of vineyards along the Russian River to the Wilsons’ already significant Sonoma County holdings. The couple owns 2,000 acres, 250 of which are planted in vineyards.

The Wilsons were not available for comment.

Their Sonoma County wineries include Wilson, Mazzocco, and Matrix wineries in the Dry Creek Valley, and the Mosaic/deLorimier winery in the Alexander Valley. They also have plans to restore the former Soda Rock winery near Jimtown.

Jepson Winery was founded in 1985 by banker Robert Jepson. It was purchased in 2005 by investment group Dbon Mendocino LLC, which included New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group, said KM Properties co-owner Sue Michaelsen, who represented the Wilsons.

Dbon Mendocino planned to develop high-end estates on the property. But the soft housing market and tight building restrictions in Mendocino County delayed those plans.

The Wilsons have no immediate plans to pursue the subdivision, and instead will focus on the winery, which includes a rare distillery permit, Pelleriti said. They are particularly excited about the opportunity to make brandy at the facility, he said.

Ken Wilson is well known in the Sonoma County wine industry for both the quality of his wines and the controversies surrounding his vineyards.

In the 1990s, some of Wilson’s vineyard development projects ran afoul of environmental laws designed to protect watersheds from erosion. In 1998 he paid the highest fine ever paid at that point — $50,000 — after pleading no contest to criminal pollution charges involving a vineyard development west of Lake Sonoma.

Since then, Wilson’s wines have earned steady acclaim.

His wines regularly win gold medals at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, and Diane Wilson’s zinfandel won the sweepstakes red there two years in a row.

Pelleriti said the wineries are doing well because they control most of their own grapes, and sell most of their wines directly to consumers through wine clubs and tasting rooms.