Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE) is Washington state’s founding wine company, with roots that go back to the end of Prohibition in 1934. Over the decades, it has led the way in planting vinifera grape varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, enabling the state to emerge as one of the great wine regions of the world. Furthermore, it has become the anchor of the Washington wine industry which has grown from just 20 wineries to more than 500 since the mid-1980s.

Today, SMWE ranks among the top 10 producers of premium wines in the United States, with a broad portfolio of super-premium wines that receive consistent acclaim and high ratings from leading critics. In the past 12 years, Wine Spectator magazine has chosen 31 SMWE wines for its prestigious list of the “Top 100 Wines of the World.” As further proof of their international caliber, the company’s products are also exported to more than 45 countries, such as Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Switzerland, and can be found on worldwide cruise lines and airlines.

SMWE's role is to responsibly manufacture and market SMWE brands to adult consumers in a financially disciplined way.

Wineries

SMWE owns a number of Washington-based wineries, including Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, Col Solare, Northstar, Snoqualmie, Spring Valley, Red Diamond, Domaine Ste. Michelle, 14 Hands and Stimson Estate Cellars. It also owns 3,400 acres of prime vineyards in Washington and contracts for grapes on another 12,000 acres.

Elsewhere, SMWE’s wineries include Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Conn Creek and Villa Mt. Eden in California’s Napa Valley and Erath in Oregon.

Partnerships

Chateau Ste. Michelle, the company’s oldest and most acclaimed winery, maintains international winemaking partnerships with the Marchesi Antinori family of Tuscany and Dr. Loosen of Germany. The former produces Col Solare, a luxury red wine, while the latter is responsible for Eroica, the wine widely acknowledged to have started a Riesling renaissance in the United States.

In 2006, the first of those joint-venture partnerships opened a new, architecturally significant winery on Red Mountain in eastern Washington, which is a prime site for red grapes. The 30-acre estate vineyard was planted in 2007.

Also in 2006, SMWE formed a historic strategic alliance with the Antinori family to become the exclusive U.S. distributor for the portfolio’s ultra-luxury wines Tignanello and Solaia, as well as Tormaresca, Montenisa, Haras de Pirque and Antinori California.

Performance and Financial Strength

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates had strong business results in 2008 as it benefited from core brand growth and the acquisition of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Net revenues increased 19% to $421 million and its adjusted operating profit increased 19.1% to $73 million. Unit volume increased 14.9% to over six million cases.

Contact Information

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
P.O. Box 1976
Woodinville, WA 98072
E-mail: Contact Us

Related Information

• Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Web site