Washington state’s leading wine company is in the hands of Washingtonians for the first time in 50 years. 

The Wyckoff family of Grandview, owners of Wyckoff Farms and Coventry Vale Winery, bought all of the brands, facilities and vineyards of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. The value of the deal was not disclosed and reportedly did not include the company’s assets outside Washington. 

Ste. Michelle, the state’s largest wine producer, has struggled in recent years along with the rest of the broader wine industry. Most recently, CEO Shawn Conway departed to lead the smaller Far Niente Wine Estates in California’s Napa Valley, two years after joining Ste. Michelle.  

However, the Wyckoffs, who have partnered with Ste. Michelle for decades, said they deeply believe in the company’s portfolio. 

“Ste. Michelle has been the long-term driving force behind Washington’s wine industry,” said Court Wyckoff, CEO of Wyckoff Farms and Coventry Vale Winery, in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Ste. Michelle team to build on its leadership, invest in winemaking quality, and champion Washington’s wine grape growers and Washington wine to consumers across the country.” 

The beginnings of what would become Ste. Michelle, based in Woodinville, first emerged in the 1930s. Its white wines are largely produced in and around Woodinville while its reds come from vineyards in the Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area, a designated grape growing region. Annual production is 2 million cases, according to Wine Access, and it employs hundreds across its statewide operations. 

Among the company’s labels produced in the Mid-Columbia are Drumheller, Prosser-based 14 Hands and Paterson-based Columbia Crest and Canoe Ridge. It’s also the namesake of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates WSU Wine Science Center at Washington State University Tri-Cities in Richland. 

The company was purchased by private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $1.2 billion in 2021 from Altria Group, which has its biggest investments in tobacco.  

The sale came on the heels of Altria disclosing it was evaluating the wine business after writing off $411 million in inventory losses and noncancelable wine contracts and an 11% decline in wine revenue in 2020. That performance capped a five-year downward trend for the Ste. Michelle business that dates to 2016, when it moved to reset the business amid a glut of wine and grapes. 

Things haven’t gotten much better in the wine industry. U.S. table wine consumption in 2023, the most recent data available, reached its lowest level since 2011 at 759 million gallons, according to the Wine Institute. 

Ste. Michelle closed its tasting rooms and wine clubs for 14 Hands and Columbia Crest at the end of 2024. That followed the winery announcing in 2023 it would significantly cut its grape contracts through 2028. In 2024, Ste. Michelle sold its interest in Benton City’s Col Solare winery to co-owner Marchesi Antinori after a 30-year partnership. 

The Wyckoffs have weathered the storms facing wineries alongside Ste. Michelle. The family has conducted agricultural business in the state from its base in Grandview since 1950. It is the largest custom wine producer and grower for Ste. Michelle since the 1980s. 

Coventry Vale, the Wyckoffs’ winery, processes up to 40,000 tons of grapes per year from 18 varieties grown across the Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley, Wahluke Slope and Horse Heaven Hills AVAs. 

That familiarity with the industry as well as the region makes the family ideal stewards, Ste. Michelle’s leaders said. 

“Our team is thrilled to welcome family ownership with deep roots in Washington’s wine and grape-growing community who share our vision for sustained growth and our uncompromising commitment to wine quality,” said David Bowman, Co-CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, in a statement.