You’re such a big fan of Sakonnet Vineyards’ Rhode Island Red or maybe its pinot noir that you buy them by the case. For between $11 million to $13 million, the entire Little Compton business can be yours – lock, stock and wine barrels.
After 15 years of running Sakonnet, Earl and Susan Sampson are getting out of the grape game. They are searching for suitable buyers for the state’s oldest and largest vineyard.
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Aside from having money in hand, the Sampsons are hoping the new owners will have a passion for wine, the environment and community.
“That’s the profile I would like a couple to fit. I guess it sounds a lot like us,” said Earl Sampson, 68 years old. “Of course, that doesn’t mean we will not talk to other wineries.”
One thing that is for sure is the new owners better know the wine business or plan to get to know it. Sampson said he is drawing up legal papers that would prohibit development of the property.
“Whoever buys the business will have to continue it as a business. This land cannot be developed in the near future,” said Sampson, who is also a founder and general partner of Landmark Vineyards in Sonoma County, Calif.
He said he wants his 15 employees to have a job after the sale and he doesn’t want development of the land to have an adverse impact on neighbors or the environment.
If the Sampsons get their asking price, they stand to make a hefty profit from the business, which they bought from Jim and Lolly Mitchell for less than $2 million.
The Mitchells founded Sakonnet Vineyards in 1975, turning a former potato farm into more than 35 acres of vineyards. Today, the company’s grapes produce 10,000 to 12,000 cases of wine a year.
“When the Mitchells set out to start the winery they found the right place after much research,” he said. The climate of the vineyard, because of its close proximity to the ocean, resembles that of some fine wine regions of the world, said Sampson.
Sampson said there is a lot more that goes into bringing the wine to customers’ dinner tables.
“There’s the manufacturing plant, retail sales, wholesale, visitors’ center, the packaging, advertising… you name it,” said Sampson. “But, if you enjoy the lifestyle of wine and food it’s a good business to be in.”
