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Clos Pegase Winery, known for its distinct architecture, was a part of the fallout of the Vintage Wine Estates bankruptcy in 2024. Now, it has reopened under new ownership and following a yearlong closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
The main tasting room was renovated into a modern lounge with plush furnishings and a fireplace.<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Surrealist musical instruments by local artist Guy\u00a0Pederson are displayed in Clos Pegase\u2019s caves. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Clos Pegase was founded in 1984 by art collectors Jan and Mitsuko Shrem, whose vision was to create a winery that intersected with art. The winery\u2019s new owners, Jay and Tammi Adair, are committed to honoring that legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Various paintings and ceramics by Clos Pegase\u2019s current resident artist Carlos Marchiori are showcased inside a new art gallery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Clos Pegase once showcased nearly 1,000 works of art, including several large-scale sculptures. Only a few pieces, like this marble statue of Bacchus, were left when the winery sold to Vintage Wine Estates in 2013.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Tastings of Clos Pegase\u2019s signature wines\u00a0\u2014 Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir\u00a0\u2014 start at $50, and the winery has also launched a more casual by-the-bottle experience in designated outdoor areas, like a large, grassy lawn that\u2019s encircled by vines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
A 42-year-old Napa Valley winery known for its dramatic architecture has reopened following a bankruptcy, an acquisition and a yearlong restoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calistoga\u2019s Clos Pegase, designed by famed postmodern architect Michael Graves, was collateral damage in the sudden bankruptcy<\/a> of California wine conglomerate Vintage Wine Estates in 2024. More than 30 wine and spirits brands were auctioned off<\/a> to the highest bidders, and Clos Pegase \u2014 along with four other classic California wineries \u2014 went to a surprising new owner<\/a>: billionaire Jay Adair, the executive chairman of Copart, a global online car auction company based in Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adair, who in the \u201990s started a small family winery in Solano County\u2019s lesser-known Suisun Valley, said he had never heard of Vintage Wine Estates until it went bankrupt. When he learned they owned Clos Pegase, he became interested in buying it; Adair had fond memories of the winery, which hosted a Copart event in 1999. \u201cWe went up there and saw it, and I was like, \u2018What did they do to it?\u2019 Everything was so not what I remembered,\u201d he said. \u201cThey changed the colors, which was so asinine. The lawn was dead. The Cyprus trees were all scraggly. But I knew we could bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That visit led to not only the purchase of Clos Pegase, but also four other historic wineries \u2014 Sonoma County\u2019s B.R. Cohn, Kunde and Viansa, and Napa Valley\u2019s Girard \u2014 for $85 million, which is less than the typical price of one. (In recent years, wineries like these<\/a> have sold for hundreds of millions<\/a> of dollars.) While Adair had zero experience running a wine empire that produces roughly 100,000 cases of wine a year, it\u2019s arguably a humble endeavor compared to Copart, which has more than 250 locations and more than 12,000 employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clos Pegase\u2019s new art gallery features a working studio for local watercolorist Barbara\u00a0Nechis, and visitors may catch her painting in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Still, \u201cit was more work than we thought,\u201d Adair said. The wines \u201cwere great,\u201d but there had been a \u201clack of maintenance\u201d across all five estates, whose reputations had each deteriorated to some degree under Vintage\u2019s reign. Revitalizing them became much more expensive than the $20 million Adair had originally planned; when they pressure-washed the walls of Kunde, for example, they \u201cwent from brown to white,\u201d because smoke from past wildfires hadn\u2019t been cleaned off. Clos Pegase \u201chad been beaten up the most,\u201d he said, recalling that the roof was leaking in five places, and demanded a significant renovation that required a one-year closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Clos Pegase was founded in 1984 by art collectors Jan and\u00a0Mitsuko Shrem, whose vision was to create a winery that intersected with art. They launched an international competition with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to find a winery designer. From 96 submissions, they chose Graves, known for colorful, playful designs that incorporate historical elements. (As such, Graves designed several projects for Disney.) His classical, Mediterranean-inspired design for Clos Pegase featured sunset hues of terracotta, pale yellow and blue, and an enormous, vineyard-and-mountain-view portico.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A stark contrast to Napa Valley\u2019s classic and minimalist estates, the striking design was radical at the time. As it was being built, there was \u201ca lot of pushback\u201d from the local community, according to Clos Pegase winemaker Robin Akhurst, who has worked at the winery since 2016. \u201cPeople were like, \u2018What are you building?\u2019 But that\u2019s what makes good art. It has to be challenging. It can\u2019t be run of the mill or pedestrian.\u201d<\/p>\n From left, Clos Pegase\u2019s longtime\u00a0winemaker Robin Akhurst and co-owner Tammi Adair walk the grounds at the revitalized winery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Under the Shrems\u2019 ownership, Clos Pegase showcased nearly 1,000 works of art, including several large-scale sculptures such as an eight-foot-tall bronze thumb by French sculptor C\u00e9sar Baldaccini. In 2013, a few years after Mitsuko\u2019s death, Jan Shrem sold the winery to Vintage<\/a> and left only a few pieces of art. Vintage then painted the winery \u201cbattleship gray,\u201d said Adair\u2019s wife Tammi. \u201cIt was so commercial and cold. It gave off ghost mall vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n Tammi Adair has led Clos Pegase\u2019s restoration, and her first objective was to return the winery to its original color palette. Graves died in 2015, but she worked with his architecture firm to procure the paint colors, and the estate once again pops out from the road long before one reaches the gate. She then revitalized the courtyard gardens, replanting 52 Cyprus trees and adding cherry trees as an homage to Mitsuko Shrem\u2019s Japanese heritage. The cherry trees surround an 18th-century Carrara marble fountain, a gift from Jan to Mitsuko, which the Adairs have restored.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clos Pegase\u2019s revitalization included returning the winery to its original color palette and restoring the courtyard gardens.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n The Adairs are not art collectors, but they were committed to honoring the Shrems\u2019 legacy. Tammi Adair repurposed office space into an art gallery, where emerging artists will exhibit their work for three to six months. Currently, the space showcases the whimsical paintings and ceramics of local artist Carlo Marchiori, whose work will be featured on the labels of Clos Pegase\u2019s forthcoming Artist Series collection. The six wines, which will feature a different artist each vintage, will focus on \u201cpretty eccentric varietals,\u201d Akhurst said, including Touriga Nacional, Alicante Bouschet and Albari\u00f1o<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to give people something they won\u2019t bump into that frequently up here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The gallery also hosts a working studio for abstract watercolor artist Barbara Nechis, a friend of the Shrems, who visitors may catch painting in real time. Additional art is scattered throughout the property. In the caves, there\u2019s a hand-carved Pegasus statue that friends gifted the Adairs, and a series of surrealist musical instruments by local sculptor Guy Pederson, who was mentored by the Shrems early in his career. Inside the refreshed club member lounge, the winery\u2019s enormous, original wrecking ball sculpture hovers above a large table for private group tastings. \u201cIt was Jan\u2019s vision that this was a place where wine and art could come together, and for whatever reasons, it got diluted,\u201d Akhurst said. \u201cWe\u2019re leaning back heavily into that. It\u2019s way too easy for us to get into the technical side of things and forget that part of winemaking is art. There needs to be more of that in the wine industry and fewer spreadsheets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A sculpture of a frayed wrecking ball, one of the winery\u2019s few original art pieces, hangs above a large table used for group tastings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n The main tasting room had \u201can 80s look,\u201d Tammi Adair said, but now, it\u2019s a modern lounge with plush seating and a cozy fireplace. Tastings of Clos Pegase\u2019s signature wines \u2014 Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir \u2014 start at $50, and the winery has also launched a more casual by-the-bottle experience in designated outdoor areas, like a large, grassy lawn that\u2019s encircled by vines.\u00a0<\/p>\n Outdoor bottle service is offered at all five estates, and Jay Adair said they haven\u2019t raised tasting fees or bottle prices. While Vintage was mostly focused on the wholesale side of the business, he\u2019s prioritizing the visitor experience. \u201cWe did dive in, maybe headfirst and without checking how deep the water was, but it was worth it,\u201d he said, noting he\u2019s not planning to buy more wineries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe have these five amazing brands, they look great now and we get to enjoy them for the next 20 to 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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