TURNER, Ore., June 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Willamette Valley
Vineyards, Inc. (NASDAQ: WVVI &
WVVIP) (the "Company"), a leading Pinot
Noir producer in Oregon, today announced
that it plans on building a new winery in the Dundee Hills
close to the Company's new boutique, dedicated sparkling winery at
Bernau Estate Vineyard.
This new winemaking facility is intended to
become the Company's primary location for the production and
bottling of the Company's various brands, and is expected
to be built on 40 acres in the Dundee Hills AVA adjacent to Highway
99 that the Company purchased four years ago. "We believe
this property is well-suited for supporting the production and
bottling of the multiple brands of our enterprise
including Willamette Valley Vineyards and additional quantities of
our Domaine Willamette méthode champenoise sparkling brand, which
we expect to launch in late Spring of 2022," stated Winery Director
Christine Clair.
Company founder and CEO Jim
Bernau explained "Our winery in the Salem Hills has served
us well over the past 34 years, but we believe we have simply
outgrown its original design. We produced 175,000 cases at this
winery last year on-site and are expecting continued increases in
demand in the coming years as our restaurant and retail placements
expand and our planned new winery restaurants are built in local
communities. We felt that we needed a new, more modern production
facility in order to meet this anticipated increase in demand."
The Company has engaged Steve Martin Associates of Sonoma
County, California to assist in the planning, design and
development of this winemaking facility.
The Company has also announced that it is looking
for candidates to fill a newly established Director of Winemaking
and Vineyards position that will report to the Company's Winery
Director. The Company's Director of Winemaking and Vineyards
is expected to be responsible for the operations of the
Company's wineries and vineyards, which currently includes a team
of 65 full and part-time employees and consists of 16 vineyards
owned or leased by the Company totaling 490 producing acres. The
new Director of Winemaking and Vineyards will also be expected to
develop new estate vineyards and produce new brands and products,
as well as oversee the planning, building and development of
the planned expansion facility.
The Company has engaged WineTalent to lead the
confidential search for the Company's new Director of Winemaking
& Vineyards. Any interested candidates for this position can
learn more about the position and apply
at www.winetalent.net.
The Company has also announced that it is planning on opening
within the next two years four new restaurants (collectively, the
"Winery Restaurants") in the following cities: Lake Oswego, Happy
Valley and Bend in
Oregon and on the Vancouver
Waterfront in Washington. The Winery Restaurants are expected
to offer Pacific Northwest-inspired dishes to pair with the
Company's classic Oregon wines as
well as offer customers a new membership program. The Company is
hoping to build on the launch of the Company's micro-winery in
Folsom California in 2020, and is
hoping that through the opening of the Winery Restaurants, more
consumers will be introduced to the Company's wines.
About Willamette Valley Vineyards:
Founded in
1983 by Jim Bernau with the dream of
creating world-class Pinot Noir while serving as stewards of the
land, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Inc. has grown from a bold
idea into one of the Pacific Northwest's leading wineries,
earning the title "One of America's Great Pinot Noir Producers"
from Wine Enthusiast Magazine. All of
the Company's vineyards have been certified sustainable
through LIVE (Low Impact Viticulture and Enology) and Salmon-Safe
programs.
The preceding contains "forward looking statements" which
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may
cause the Company's actual results in future periods to
differ materially from forecasted results. Words such as "expects",
"anticipates", "projects", "intends", "designed", "will",
"believes", "estimates", "may", "could" and variations of such
words and similar expressions are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements. Among those factors which could cause
actual results to differ materially are the
following: availability of financing for growth, availability
of adequate supply of high quality grapes, successful performance
of internal operations, impact of competition, changes in wine
broker or distributor relations or performance, impact of possible
adverse weather conditions, impact of reduction in grape quality or
supply due to disease or smoke from forest fires, changes in
consumer spending, the reduction in consumer demand for premium
wines and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the policies of
United States federal, state and
local governments in response to such pandemic. In addition, such
statements could be affected by general industry and market
conditions and growth rates, and general domestic economic
conditions as well as other risk factors listed from time
to time in the reports the
Company files with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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SOURCE Willamette Valley Vineyards
