Stag's Leap Wine Cellars sold

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, a pioneering Napa Valley winery, is being purchased for $185 million by a joint venture between Washington’s largest winery and one of Italy’s oldest wine companies.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, of Woodinville, Wash., and Marchese Piero Antinori, head of a prominent Tuscan wine family, formed the venture to acquire the famed winery from Warren Winiarski, who rose to international prominence when his cabernet sauvignon beat French rivals in the famous Paris Tasting of 1976.

The deal includes the brands, winery and about 200 acres of vineyards on the Napa’s Silverado Trail.

It does not include a 128-acre chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon vineyard in the hills east of Napa known as the Arcadia vineyard, which Winiarski plans to continue farming.

“He’s not a guy who retires and sits in a rocking chair,” said Jon Fredrikson, of Gomberg-Fredrikson & Associates, the wine industry consulting firm that brokered the deal. “He loves viticulture.”

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is owned by U.S. Tobacco, the Greenwich. Conn.-based maker of smokeless tobacco products like Skoal.

“This is a very rare opportunity to acquire a legendary winery and estate vineyard in Napa Valley,” Ted Baseler, president of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, said in a statement.

Winiarski, 79, has been considering selling the winery for about five years, Fredrikson said. He and his family decided to sell now in part because of his confidence that the buyers would respect his wines.

“More important to Warren than any price was his legacy and his brand,” Fredrikson said. “He didn’t want to sell it to a big corporate player that would somehow take production way up and somehow diminish the quality of the brand.”

The winery produces more than 100,000 cases annually. Winiarski will remain in an advisory role for three years.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates produces Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, Conn Creek and Villa Mt. Eden wines. It also distributes and markets Antinori products in the United States.