Seattle-based Ackley Brands has purchased Washington’s Betz Family Winery from Steve and Bridgit Griessel. The sale includes SuNu, which is a Willamette Valley-focused brand, and The Untold Story. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
“Betz is an iconic, historic, heritage brand,” says Ackley Brands founder and president Brandon Ackley. “These iconic brands don’t change hands too often. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity.”
The purchase of Betz Family comes less than a month after Ackley acquired Columbia Winery and Hogue Cellars from Gallo. That acquisition immediately made Ackley a major player in Washington. The addition of Betz Family now gives Ackley a luxury tier brand. Prices for Betz Family red wines range from $52 to $135. Betz Family is also one of Washington’s most highly regarded wineries.
“It’s in a different tier than our other wines, exclusively allocated,” Ackley says. “It starts touching on the [direct-to-consumer] market that we’ve always wanted to be in.”
The Betz Family winemaking team, which includes head winemaker Louis Skinner and consultant/founder Bob Betz, is expected to stay on. Bob Betz believes the sale will benefit all.
“Betz Family has an opportunity to be a gem in the Ackley portfolio because of the acclaim that the winery has garnered,” Betz says. “It’s a great step for Ackley, and I think it’s a very positive step for Washington.”
The Griessels acquired the winery in 2011 from founders Bob and Cathy Betz. The couple announced the sale in a May 13th email to wine club members.
“We were incredibly blessed to be able to buy Betz Family from Bob and Cathy,” Steve Griessel told Northwest Wine Report. “It was such an amazing chapter of our lives for 13 years. The winery is in good hands with the Ackley family.”
Ackley Brands growing quickly
Brandon Ackley, Ackley Brands
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Excellent recap Sean. Fingers crossed that the Betz product remains a Washington state stalwart.
On a side note, I sure like the Mac and Jack’s African Amber.
I too viewed betz as a top notch winery during the bob era, part of that was probably my admiration for bob. question, does the winery have the same top reputation under griessel as it did?
I also agree with fred’s side note about Mac and Jacks!
Key Boyer, great question. Let me first say that I believe that a lot goes into the reputation that Betz Family has built over the last 27 years.
Many Northwest wineries build reputations in part based on personal relationships with winery principals. In Washington wine, there’s no better spokesperson – or maybe just person – than Bob Betz. I’m more than sure that those personal relationships helped burnish the reputation of Betz Family.
Betz Family’s status as one of the earliest Woodinville wineries has also been important. Bob’s long-time association with the Washington wine industry and his master of wine status also played a role. The winery had a home base in Woodinville that was all its own and included a standalone winemaking facility. Don’t underestimate the importance of that.
Critical and consumer acclaim has also been part of it. The Betz Family wines have been well-received pretty much from the get go. Finally, after a point, the wines have at least in large part been sold through the winery’s wine club, while still having some retail and restaurant presence. That is a strong positive. Put that all together, and that’s a very powerful package.
The Griessels, while obviously their own people, embraced the personal, family winery style of Betz Family that Bob and Cathy built. It was for this reason that it was important to them to reach out to their wine club members personally when they sold the winery. Those relationships are very important to them.
The wine style has changed with Louis Skinner as winemaker. This is not surprising, as Louis is his own person. Louis prefers picking earlier with more freshness in the wines than Bob did. Bob has been supportive of those changes. The wines have continued to score well across a range of publications.
Overall, it’s a difficult question to objectively answer. However, I haven’t seen any of the telltale changes one typically sees if there is a major change in perception. These are things like wines getting backed up and flash sold, cases stacking up in retail, scores dropping, consumers grumbling, and mailing lists shrinking.
I believe the Griessels took their roles as stewards of the brand very seriously. They knew how special Betz Family is and worked hard to maintain that and build it on. I wish them well.
This is a seismic event. Thanks for the insights. WA wine industry is going through major changes; it will be interesting to see what is going to happen to smaller, family wineries that are reaching that stage where the winemakers are getting ready to retire.