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Newsom's Winery Group Buys Oso

Education # 58

The winery co-founded by Gavin Newsom just bought a major Napa vineyard for $14.5 million

The wine company co-founded by Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco billionaire Gordon Getty just acquired a major Napa vineyard for $14.5 million.

Oso Vineyard, located in a fast-changing area called Pope Valley, is the newest property in the PlumpJack Collection of Wineries, a group that includes the Napa wineries PlumpJack Estate, Odette Estate and Cade Estate. The group has purchased Oso from Michael Mondavi Family Estate, which had owned the 129-acre vineyard since 2006.

PlumpJack’s latest investment is sure to raise the profile of Pope Valley, a region in the northeastern outskirts of the county that’s always been less visible — with a reputation for less impressive wines — than areas like Oakville, the Stags Leap District and Howell Mountain, where PlumpJack’s other holdings are located.

But PlumpJack hopes to prove that Pope Valley is capable of producing better wines than it’s gotten credit for. “Pope Valley is the unheralded Napa Valley,” said managing partner John Conover. (Newsom, who put his ownership interest in PlumpJack into a blind trust when he became governor, is not currently active in management of the company.)

Music Affects Taste?

Education #57

Leslie Hennessy Tasting in the Wine Cellar