Spring Mountain Vineyard Seeks Bankruptcy Protection
The petition lists both assets and liabilities in the $100 million to $500 million range and says Spring Mountain Vineyard Inc. is owned by Freecrest Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company.
The largest creditor is Constantine Yannis, who is identified as president of the vineyard but lives in Chicago. He is owed $2,538,867.
The second largest creditor is IPFS, or Imperial Premium Financing Solutions, which describes itself as a leader in providing short-term loans for businesses and individuals to obtain property and casualty insurance coverage. IPFS is owed $1,873,376.
The third largest creditor is Napa County, which is owned $223,989.86.
The filing has stayed a $10 million fire damage insurance dispute with Mt. Hawley Insurance Co. , a unit of RLI Corp. Mt. Hawley issued a $10 million excess claims policy on top of underlying insurance that SMV had obtained from other carriers. Following the 2021 Glass Fire, Mt. Hawley denied SMV's claim which contended that its covered losses from the Glass Fire are sufficient to exhaust the coverage under Mt. Hawley's excess policy. In its lawsuit, Mt. Hawley said it has been investigating SMV's claims, but SMV recently stated it would no longer comply with the policy conditions or cooperate with the investigation. SMV accused Mt. Hawley of bad faith and breach of contract for not paying the claim, an accusation Mt. Hawley disputed in a lawsuit filed in New York State.
The effect of Spring Mountain's lawsuit is to stay Mt. Hawley lawsuit which seeks to avoid paying the excess coverage on the property.
Behind Spring Mountain's owner, Freecrest, is a member of the billionaire Safra family, Jacob E. Safra.
From 1981 until 1990, Spring Mountain Vineyards became known to television viewers as the setting for the CBS drama series Falcon Crest. Cast and crew would film exterior scenes at the winery for six weeks each summer before relocating to Los Angeles to shoot interior scenes. The mansion, winery, and many acres of surrounding vineyards, served as the fictional home of ruthless matriarch Angela Channing, played by Jane Wyman.