Signorello Estate Faces Foreclosure

It took seven years for Signorello Estate Winery to recover from the 2017 Atlas Fire. Now, it could be sold at a public auction after American AgCredit filed foreclosure papers to foreclose on two loans – one with a balance of about $30.9 million, the second with a balance of $6.08 million.

The loans came from construction financing in 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024. In addition to the winery's physical assets, the trustee sale notices include trademarks, including the Signorello Estate, Fuse, Edge and Trim wine brands.

Why did it take seven years to rebuild the winery? The Napa Valley Register cited the Covid-19, a lengthy county permtting process and construction delays.

Comment: A Wall Street Journal article over the weekend (8/1) noted regulation "can wall off competition, brick by brick, protecting incumbents from challengers." My impression is that this is true of the Napa County government which routinely delays permits and if challenged, issues punishing fines and other assessments that can lead to the destruction of a business.

See: Hoopes Vineyard, which faces financial ruin and potential bankruptcy after losing a legal battle with Napa County over customerr tastings and permit violations. The CBS San Francisco report is here. Our coverage is here, and here, and here.

There is simply no reason why a permitting review should run beyond 90 days. . . . Our opinion. To be sure, following the devastating fires of 2018, the county faced a deluge of applications that undoubtedly outpaced its ability to process quickly. The solution is not to make applicants wait years, driving up the cost of construction, but to hire more reviewers.