European wine leaders continue to see potential in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Executives at Italian wine company Marchesi Frescobaldi announced today that they have signed an agreement to purchase Domaine Roy & Fils in Oregon’s Dundee Hills for an undisclosed price. The estate includes 40 acres of vineyards planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It’s the company’s first U.S. winery.
“We want to send a message to the largest wine market, the United States, that we don’t just want to sell wines there, but also produce them there,” Marchesi Frescobaldi president Lamberto Frescobaldi told Wine Spectator. “We had the opportunity and I said to myself, ‘Life is moving too fast, so let’s do it.’”
An outstanding Pinot Noir track record
Domaine Roy & Fils was founded in 2012 by Montréal native Marc-André Roy and Jared Etzel; their fathers were partners in Beaux Frères, established in 1991. Roy will keep a minority ownership and sit on the board, while Etzel will continue his duties as winemaker.
“I think it’s going to bring great energy not only to the brand but to the valley,” Etzel told Wine Spectator. “That family is focused on the right things, focused on quality, and I think they’re going to bring more spotlight on the area. So, it’s definitely a great thing. Their intent is to elevate quality and they have a history of doing that.”
The estate consists of two vineyards—Iron Filbert is planted with 13 acres of Pinot Noir and 2 acres of Chardonnay; Quartz Acorn consists of 21 acres of Pinot Noir and 3 acres of Chardonnay. The current annual production is roughly 8,000 cases. Frescobaldi hopes to increase that to 10,000 cases. He noted that there is room to grow, with an additional 8 acres of land on the property suitable for planting.
Frescobaldi wanted to invest in America
Frescobaldi, who studied viticulture and enology at University of California, Davis, in the 1980s, had been looking for a winery in California recently. “I have a soft spot for California because of my Davis experience, but everything was either too eclectic or too expensive,” he said. Robert Nicholson of International Wine Associates, a specialist in mergers and acquisitions, suggested Oregon. When Frescobaldi saw Domaine Roy & Fils, it was “love at first sight.”
The deal took six months of negotiations, with 26 investors to buy out, closing July 20. Etzel said the number of investors in the winery was a major reason for the deal. “There were too many partners. It just made everything a bit more challenging than need be,” he said. “We spoke with a number of potential suitors and nobody matched up until we came to the Frescobaldis. They love Pinot Noir and they love this area.”
Marchesi Frescobaldi has made several acquisitions in recent years. In May, the company bought Poggio Verrano, the Maremma project of Francesco Bolla. In 2021, it purchased Corte alla Flora in Montepulciano and, in 2017, increased its stake in Chianti Classico with Tenuta Perano. Attems, in Italy’s Friuli region, was Frescobaldi’s only holding outside Tuscany until now.
—With reporting by Tim Fish
Stay on top of important wine stories with Wine Spectator’s free Breaking News Alerts.