Trump Winery

Trump Winery (formerly Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard[3]) is a winery on Trump Vineyard Estates in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the county of Albemarle. It is within both the Virginia and Monticello viticultural areas and is among the 23 wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail.[4]

Trump Winery
LocationCharlottesville, Virginia, US
FormerlyKluge Estate Winery and Vineyard[1]
FoundedOctober 2011
Key peopleEric Trump, owner[2]
Kerry Woolard, General Manager
Jonathan Wheeler, Winemaker
Parent companyEric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC
DistributionInternational
TastingOpen to the public
Websitehttp://www.trumpwinery.com

The vineyard was purchased by businessman Donald Trump in April 2011[5] and re-opened in October 2011.[6] Since 2012, it has been owned and operated by Trump's son Eric, trading as Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC.[2][7][8]

The 227 acres of vinifera varieties makes it the largest vineyard in Virginia and the largest French vinifera on the East Coast.[9][10]

Acquisition

Patricia Kluge, former wife of American billionaire John Kluge, kept Albemarle in their 1990 divorce settlement.[6] Afterwards, Kluge spent her fortune establishing an award-winning vineyard and winery which opened in 1999. She and her third husband, William Moses, took out $65 million in loans and mortgaged the mansion to finance production expansion and a related real-estate venture.[10][11][12] In 2011, the couple defaulted on the loans and Bank of America acquired the mortgage on the mansion, Albemarle House. The land outside the mansion's front door and bordering its long driveway is a 217-acre stretch of rolling greenery that had a former life as John Kluge's private Arnold Palmer–designed golf course. A quirk in the divorce settlement let John Kluge own this patch, as his ex-wife took the mansion and the land underneath, insulating it from Patricia's financial woes. The land was still the family's to give, after Mr. Kluge died in 2010, leaving it in a trust to his son with Patricia as trustee.[3] [6][11][12]

Trump, a longstanding friend of John and Patricia Kluge, purchased the 1,300-acre estate, including the vineyards and winemaking operation, out of foreclosure from three different banks for $8.5 million. He initially offered the banks $20 million to bail out Kluge Estate, but when they refused, he began to buy the property through foreclosure auctions and private purchases. After acquiring the winery, Trump hired Patricia Kluge as vice president of operations and William Moses as chief executive officer.[6][12] He also bought the parcel directly from the Kluge trust for $150,000.[11] The bank alleged that Trump subsequently arranged for "No Trespassing" signs to be placed around the mansion allowing the lawns to become overgrown in order to ward off potential buyers and to give the appearance of Trump's exclusive access to the property, although the bank's interest in the main house included right-of-way easements. Trump placed a winning bid of $3.6 million at auction for the mansion property, a significant discount from the $16 million the bank had paid at the foreclosure auction and Patricia's original $100 million asking price. Bank of America rejected the bid and retained possession.[3][11][13][14][15][16][17]

In October 2012, Trump bought Albemarle House from Bank of America for $6.7 million, completing his acquisition of the entire estate.[18][19]

Operations

Trump Winery contains the largest vineyard in Virginia, and the largest French vinifera acreage on the East Coast.[9][20] However, Donald Trump's March 2016 claim to own "the largest winery on the East Coast"[7][8] was found by Politifact to be false: Trump Winery makes 36,000 cases of wine per year, roughly half the production of Williamsburg Winery or Chateau Morrisette Winery.[21][22]

In addition to the winery, the site contains a hotel, the 'Albemarle Estate', that opened in May 2015.[11][23]

The winery's manager, Kerry Hannon Woolard, supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and was a guest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention.[24]

Reviews

James Suckling scored the winery's 2009 Blanc de Blanc 90 points and the 2010 Sparkling Reserve 91 points.[25]

In March 2013, Wine Enthusiast magazine gave the 2007 Trump SP Reserve a 91-point rating, which was at that time the highest rating for a still or sparkling Virginia wine.[26]

The 2020 San Francisco International Wine Competition awarded the winery’s 2014 Sparkling Reserve, Best in Class-Brut, Double Gold, 97 points, scoring higher than those from Napa, Sonoma, Spain, Italy, Australia & Champagne.[27]

References
  1. "Home – Trump Winery". Klugeestateonline.com. 2012. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
    • "Our Team". Trump Winery. 355 Albemarle House Drive, Charlottesville, VA. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014.CS1 maint: location (link)
    • "Legal". Trump Winery. 355 Albemarle House Drive, Charlottesville, VA. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017. Disclaimer : Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates.CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. Brennan, Morgan (March 10, 2011). "The Rise And Fall Of Patricia Kluge". Forbes. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  4. "Albemarle County Wineries, Cideries & Breweries" (PDF). Virginia’s Piedmont, America’s Wine Country.
  5. Gowen, Annie (April 7, 2011). "Trump buys former Kluge-owned winery". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  7. Johnson, Richard (June 15, 2015). "Donald Trump doesn't own Trump Winery, his son does" (Page Six). New York Post. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  8. Walloga, April (July 6, 2015). "Meet Donald Trump's five children". Business Insider. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  9. "13 Top Charlottesville Wineries to Visit". WTOP News. U.S. News & World Report. June 11, 2019. Trump Winery is Virginia’s largest vineyard as well as the East Coast’s largest French vinifera vineyard
  10. McIntyre, Dave (March 2007). "Rolland's Mark on Virginia – The Bordeaux consultant remakes Patricia Kluge's estate". Wines & Vines.
  11. Kashino, Marisa M. (October 5, 2015). "The Greatest, Most Amazing, Absolutely HUGE Story of How Donald Trump Took Over Virginia's Biggest Vineyard". Washingtonian. Washington Magazine, Inc. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017. Trump knew this...he got the Kluge trust to sell him the yard for the bargain-basement price of $150,000. "That is the art of the deal right there."
  13. Frank, Robert (July 1, 2011). "Donald Trump Picks Up Patricia Kluge's Virginia Assets". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  14. Orton, Kathy (September 26, 2012). "Donald Trump buys Kluge estate in Charlottesville". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  15. Gowen, Annie (April 7, 2011). "Trump buys former Kluge-owned winery". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  16. McKee, Linda Jones (November 19, 2014). "Kluge Saga Continues in Virginia". Wines & Vines Analytics. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  17. Frank, Robert (July 1, 2011). "The Fall of the House of Kluge Leads to the Rise of the Yard of Trump". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  18. Carlyle, Erin (June 17, 2015). "How Donald Trump Bought A Mansion Once Listed At $100 Million For Pennies on The Dollar". Forbes. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  19. "Donald Trump buys Patricia Kluge's mansion for bargain price of $6.5 million; now owns entire estate". The Washington Post. September 26, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  20. "Trump Winery". Monticello Wine Trail. Trump Winery is Virginia’s largest vineyard
  21. Gorman, Sean (March 21, 2016). "Donald Trump incorrectly says Virginia winery is the largest on East Coast". Politifact. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  22. Rothbaum, Noah (March 10, 2016). "Trump Wine Is Built on Acres of Lies". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  23. Howsare, Erika (December 3, 2015). "Fresh start: The Kluges' palace, Albemarle House, welcomes the public". C-Ville Weekly. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016.
  24. "Full speech: Kerry Woolard, Trump Winery – Republican National Convention". YouTube. ABC15 Arizona. July 19, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  25. "Trump Winery: Sometimes a Wine is Just a Wine". JamesSuckling.com. June 27, 2016.
  26. Berninger, Jack (March 24, 2013). "Vines and Wines: Trump Winery's 2007 SP Reserve". Richmond Times Dispatch. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  27. "The 2020 San Francisco International Wine Competition in Review" (Best In Class). San Francisco International Wine Competition. Best Brut - Trump Winery Reserve Brut, Monticello, USA

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