Pacific Rim Winemakers Inc. attends to “liquidate” the Rainstorm winery and an adjacent vineyard about 10 miles west of Salem.
PORTLAND, Oregon — This story comes from the Portland Business Journal, a KGW News partner. The full story is here.
A company that owns a Polk County winery and vineyard — and owes Oregon grape growers $100,000 — has filed for bankruptcy.
Pacific Rim Winemakers Inc. and associated debtors told a bankruptcy court they intend to “liquidate inventory, equipment and real estate … in an orderly fashion to maximize recovery for creditors.” Assets include the Rainstorm winery and an adjacent vineyard about 10 miles west of Salem.
Pacific Rim is the Pacific Northwest outpost of the New York-based Mariani family, longtime wine importers who also make Castello Banfi and other wines in Italy.
Pacific Rim’s wines — mostly rieslings from Washington under the Pacific Rim label, but also a pinot noir and pinot gris from Oregon under the Rainstorm label — were sold through the family’s Banfi Wines arm. But that outlet dried up, according to the March 30 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York.
“This decline has been caused by several factors,” the company wrote. “For example, the younger generation are drinking less wine and shifting to hard seltzers, canned cocktails, craft beer, cannabis and non-alcoholic drinks. Inflation, tariffs and oversupply have also hurt the wine industry. All have caused Banfi Wines to discontinue purchasing wine from Pacific Rim.”
The Marianis acquired Pacific Rim from legendary vintner Randall Grahm in 2011. The deal came with a winery lease in the Richland, Washington, area.
