Billionaire Resnicks Pick Up Justin Winery

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 7th 2010 at 12:01AM

More proof this week that the Paso Robles wine region in California is booming. Another up and coming winery was snapped up by a big fish. This time it's Justin Vineyards & Winery which was picked up by billionaire Stewart Resnick's Fiji Water. Resnick and his wife Lynda are also behind the Pom brand of pomegranate juice, Teleflora and a host of other businesses. They are also important philanthropists supporting several museums as well as medical and education initiatives.

Justin Winery was founded by Justin Baldwin and his wife Deborah back in 1981. The winery now makes about 50,000 cases of wine a year including cabernet sauvignon, malbec, syrah and petit verdot starting at around $20 a bottle. The 160-acre property also is a travel destination with a hotel and a restaurant.

Bloomberg News reports that unlike many of the other wineries purchased this year, this one doesn't appear to have been in financial distress (as was the case with the recent purchase of Eos Winery in Paso Robles by Foley Family Wines). It's not known how much the winery sold for. The Resnicks had been looking to get into the wine business for years and found Justin Winery to be the perfect fit.

Tags: fiji water, justin winery, lynda resnick, pom wonderful, stuart resnick