News Briefs: March 2019

OVS Sold

Oregon Vineyard Supply in McMinnville was sold to new owners in December, but OVS company controller Adam Bertram says customers probably won’t be able to tell the difference.

It’s operating under a new name, but the company’s initials remain the same, for the most part. The 34-year-old McMinnville-based business was acquired by Wilson Orchard & Vineyard Supply Acquisition Corp. from Yakima, Washington. So, OVS remains OVS.

“The management teams are staying in place and will continue to operate under the brand name OVS,” he said. “The only thing that will change is that we will potentially have more services available to our customers.”

Wilson Orchard & Vineyard — owned by Clearview Capital, a private equity company with headquarters on the East Coast — provides more irrigation services to Oregon customers than the McMinnville company.

Oregon Vineyard Supply was founded by Mark Benoit in 1985. Dean Forseth and Kevin Chambers purchased the company from Benoit in 1998. In 2000, they gave up a portion of the company by offering employees an employee stock ownership plan. In 2008, the employee-owners purchased the rest of the company.

Bertram says the company will no longer be employee-owned, but the employee-owners will be paid out. The sale was compelled because there was an interested buyer able to offer the requested amount of money considered fair. The new owners operate 10 storefronts in Washington, Oregon, California and New York, with the majority in Washington.

“We’re going to have a much larger geographic footprint,” Bertram said.

Dundee Mobile Bottling

Longtime winemaker Joe Dobbes, founder of Dobbes Family Estate and Wine by Joe, has created a new venture, Dundee Mobile Bottlers, offering high-quality services for producers of still and sparkling beverages.

From the company’s website: “Using state-of-the-art equipment and knowledge gained from decades of industry experience, our dedication to product quality is data-driven and unrivaled.” Dobbes also says his business model is more than just bottling. “We provide information and automation to reduce labor, reduce bottle shock duration, improve product age-ability, improve consumer perception of product and allow products to go to market sooner.”

For more details, visit dundeemobilebottlers.com.