Premium wineries must have excellent vineyard sources it also helps to have a winemaker who is intimately familiar with one’s own vineyards along with retaining key employees on the winemaking side of the operations. And honoring Shafer’s continuity and success, Shinsegae has taken a more hands off approach to running the business. As of the time of this sale, Doug Shafer and Elias Fernandez will both remain with Shafer Vineyards. Reference our notes on DANA Estate for more details. This is not the first Korean owned winery in Napa Valley. This is not their first entry into the wine market in 2016 the company opened their first Wine & More retail shop in Korea and have since opened additional stores. In addition, they were Korea’s first credit card company (no longer in that business) and they currently own ebay Korea. The company also owns e-mart, the largest retailer in the country, golf resorts and hotels. Shinsegae is noted for its department stores, including their main branch, which is the oldest department store in Korea, Shinsegae Centum City, which in 2009 was validated as the largest department store on the planet by Guinness Book of World Records, and the impressive Daejeon Shinsegae Art & Science center. Shinsegae was founded in 1955 and until 1997 was its parent company was Samsung. The sale was conducted through Starfield Properties, Inc, Shinsegae’s U.S. In February 2022, Shafer Vineyards was sold to Seoul, South Korea based Shinsegae (their liquor and beverage department, L&B), a major company invested in a variety of businesses. The article mentions the buyers were newcomers from New York, Jacob Ohl and Chas. An article from the August 14, 1885, issue of the Napa Register refers to a sale of 137.5 acres approximately 1.5 miles east of Yountville of which 35 acres were already planted to ‘the finest grapes’. Records show that grapevines were first planted on the Shafer property in the 1880s. And this same year he also sold grapes to Spring Mountain Vineyards. John was inspired by the richness and depth of this wine and a year later made home wine for the first time from some of the old Zinfandel vines. In 1976 John tasted a 1968 Cabernet Sauvignon (home wine) made by grower Nathan Fay at a party hosted by Nathan and his wife Nellie along with other guests, Joe and Alice Heitz of Heitz Cellars. In 19 John planted his first Cabernet Sauvignon on the property. For three years John sold the existing grapes to the Napa Valley Co-op (now the site of Hall Winery, St. In 1972 at the age of 48 he and his family moved to Napa Valley and purchased 209 acres which at the time had 30 acres of vines dating from 1922 including some white varieties (none of these old vines remain as they have all long since been replanted). John Shafer (died 2019) founded Shafer Vineyards after a long corporate career in the book publishing industry, based in Chicago. Shafer Vineyards was family owned from 1978 (their inaugural vintage) through early 2022.
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