Is Cecchetti Merger Racke’s U.S. End Game?
Racke USA, which has struggled for more than two decades to find significant traction in the U.S. market, has merged with the brains and brawn behind the hot-selling Pepperwood Grove brand, Roy Cecchetti. Once best known as the owner of Sonoma’s venerable Buena Vista Winery, Racke has now merged its remaining U.S. operations into a new company, Cecchetti Racke which says it expects to sell 140,000 cases of wine in 2009, grossing about $8.4 million. Roy Cecchetti will share a co-presidency with Marian Kopp, who headed Racke USA. Kopp is expected to specialize in international sales and marketing while Cecchetti will focus on domestic operations. VENTURE = RACKE’S U.S. END GAME? Cecchetti Racke appears to be Racke’s end game after a long period of erratic sales performance in the United States. In 1991 Racke GmbH + Co. KG (a German family owned company headed by Marcus Moller-Racke) bought Buena Vista, Haywood and Robert Stemmler wineries to great fanfare. The company hired quality local
