The Tasting Panel magazine

December 2015

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Sam Bronfman has been in the beverage business for most of his adult life. "I was part of the family that founded, ran and eventually sold Seagram. I actually worked for the company from 1979 until we sold it, and then I spent two additional years with one of the successor companies that purchased the Seagram brand. And I did a variety of things, but most of my career has been in the wine business, at the end of which, for six years, I was President of Seagram Chateau & Estates Wine Company, a super-premium wine firm which, at that time, specialized in imported wines, especially Bordeaux and Champagne, as well as high-end California wine." Today Sam is co-founder and a Managing Partner of Bacchus Capital Management, a company that set out to create serious value in the wine business with a unique approach. Now in its seventh year of operation, the firm's mission, providing strategic capital and making private equity investments in the U.S. wine industry, continues to be reflected in its portfolio of excellent wineries and wine businesses. A select roster of geographically diverse, small, artisanal brands, each the personal expression of an iconic wine- maker, the Bacchus portfolio stands apart. And when deter- mining how best to manage the destiny of these brands, Bronfman and his team determined it best to directly support several of these brands to wholesalers themselves. In 2014, Bacchus established its own highly focused sales and marketing company, Bacchus Wineworks, appointing Steve Cousins as President. The roster comprises: DeLille Cellars and Upchurch Vineyard in Washington State, Madrigal Family Winery in Napa Valley, Panther Creek Cellars in Oregon's Willamette Valley and Sbragia Family Vineyards in Sonoma. In an effort to intelligently place these wines in the mar- ketplace to ensure that they thrive, Wineworks maintains an exclusive roster of representation. Leading these brands UP UpFront with Bacchus Wineworks by Anthony Dias Blue 6  /  the tasting panel  /  december 2015 A deck view of Madrigal Family Winery's estate vineyard in the Calistoga AVA. PHOTO COURTESY OF BACCHUS WINEWORKS.

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