Sale of Napa Vineyard Likely in Bid to Avoid Foreclosure
The former owners of Stricker Vineyard have filed a notice of foreclosure on the 40-acre vineyard which now belongs to Alpha Omega Winery. Robin Baggett, founder/owner of Alpha Omega told the Napa County Times he stopped payments on a note he signed when Alpha Omega purchased the vineyard. He
The former owners of Stricker Vineyard have filed a notice of foreclosure on the 40-acre vineyard which now belongs to Alpha Omega Winery. Robin Baggett, founder/owner of Alpha Omega told the Napa County Times he stopped payments on a note he signed when Alpha Omega purchased the vineyard. He said the winery could not “continue to throw good money after bad.”
Alpha Omega bought the Mount Veeder Road vineyard in 2020 from Larry and Collette Stricker for $8.8 million.
Baggett said the vineyard "used to be worth a lot. It's not worth a lot now. . . . It's a sign of the times." The vineyard has to be replanted. Aging vines were pulled a few years ago at a cost of $316,000.
Alpha Omega has tried to sell the vineyard for six months without success. Now the Strickers and Baggett have agreed to work together to sell the vineyard. There's a house on the property that apparently will not be part of the sale; Baggett has continued to make $32,000 a month payments to a bank on that loan.
The Money
Let's talk money: Baggett bought the vineyard from the Strickers for $8.8 million, subject to a first mortgage of $4.2 million Apparently, the Strickers received $6 million in cash, and the remaining $2.8 million in a note, which apparently was tied to a second mortgage.
If Alpha Omega simply hands the deed over to the Strickers, they will have to pay off the bank. So, they and Baggett have agreed the best option is to try once more to sell the vineyard. It's already been up for sale once, and local real estate agents told the Napa County Times it's likely to go for less than $6 million.
If the hoped-for sale is successful, the bank debt would be paid off and the Strickers would get whatever is left of the sale price.
Alpha Omega is trying to do the “right thing here even though we had nothing to do with the downturn of vineyard valuations and the wine economy,” Baggett said. The loss of the vineyard might be financially painful, but the winery will keep operating; it buys most of its fruit.
As for Stricker, who purchased the property back in 1986, he sold his last cases in 2020. "“I’m glad I’m not in the wine business any longer,” he said.
