Kirkland Winery In Foreclosure

Sad news for the Kirkland Ranch Winery. Wines & Vines reports that the foreclosure proceedings have begun on the property. The news comes after an auction in December failed to attract a bidder to pay the $22 million minimum bid. The winery has let most employees go but remains open with management filling in.

The winery has been a custom crush facility for other wineries and other wineries have wine aging and stored at Kirkland. It's been a long road for this producer of Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, Syrah and other wines. The winery filed Chapter 11 a couple of years ago to avoid a foreclosure auction and emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2007. The Kirkland family built the 57,000-square-foot winery ten years ago and it can process 200,000 gallons of wine annually and has the capability to produce more than twice that. The cellar has storage for 3,000 oak barrels. The winery can crush up to 2500 tons and handle 257,000 gallons in refrigerated stainless steel tanks. It is believed that the lender will be closing down the winery but the time frame is not known.