Jim Bodenstedt Submits Winning Bid for CapRock Winery in Second Round Auction
Its been a long time in coming and I hope that we don’t have to go through another round of bidding.
2:14 pm – Ben Simons (@Vintology) Twitters “In the court room for the Cap*Rock hearing. Looking pretty empty right now.”
2:20 pm – Get a call from a previous source of information on the CapRock Winery purchase asking if I have heard anything yet, “who has bid or who won it”. I responded, “No news yet”.
2:59 pm – Still waiting….things are going slowly. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting….Maybe Ben got arrested in the courtroom when he stuck his video camera in the judge’s face. He could have at least twittered me or took a twit-pic, so something. I guess no news yet. But, just then….
3:02 pm – Ben Simons (@Vinotology) Twitters, “Winning Cap*Rock bidder is named Jim Bodenstedt. High bid was $2.5 million.”
Who’s Jim Bodenstedt?!
According to Special Texas High Plains Wine Correspondent, Ben Simons from www.vintology.com, “The only people in the court room today were a bunch of lawyers, some reporters, and me. The winning bid was for $2.5 million, much less than the previous defunct $6.5 million bid by Laurent Gruet (www.gruetwinery.com) in the first line auction. But, the good news is the new investor plans to make a go of the CapRock facility as a winery and not convert it into a party center. No word yet on where they will get their expertice.
Back to…Who’s Jim Bodenstedt?!
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According to what I can find on Jim on his Linkedin.com page, Jim is in San Antonio. He’s President/CEO at MUY Brands, LLC and COO/CFO at R&L Foods, Inc. that include: Franchises for Taco Bell, Wing Street, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver [This does bring a lot of food and wine pairing possibilities in Texas instead of just BBQ Ribs and Brisket] Past – PFP Supervisor at KPMG Education – Harvard Business School, The University of Texas at San Antonio Earlier this year, officials at The University of Texas at San Antonio announced local franchise restaurant owners Jim Bodenstedt, a graduate of the UTSA College of Business (1996), and spouse Cathy Bodenstedt, a current UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts undergraduate student, were the first private donors to write a million-dollar check to support the UTSA football program.
[Jim appears to have good business credentials and hopefuly he has money to spend to build another strong brand in the Texas wine industry after his big donation to the University of Texas at San Antonio. I have a call in for Jim at his office.]
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UPDATE: Caprock Winery Planning for 2010 Harvest; Equipment is Ready Awaiting their New Leader
I just spoke to Phillip Anderson, General Manager at CapRock Winery. He had just heard the news and mentioned that he was pleased with the results. Anderson said, “Jim Bodenstedt should be a good owner. He appears to have the dough and has a great business background to give us a well directed future.”
I asked Anderson if they were set for harvest at the winery. He said “Our plans are to proceed with the custom crush contacts they have in place. What needed fixing has been fixed and the equipment is ready. We also have room to run more wine through the winery as this venture ramps up.”
According to comments made at the courthouse, the parties wanted to rap up the sale in the next thirty days, is possible. However, Anderson said, “The longest lead item will be licensing with TABC and the feds. We hope that we can come up with a creative way to jump start this venture that gives the licensing people what they need and gets Jim on board and involved so that we get started planning our future.”
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According toKCBD News 11….The estate will pursue legal action against the winner of the previous auction, Luarent Gruet, and against Gruet Winery for $4 million in damages (the diference between the second auction sales prices and that in the first auction.
See: http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=12928844
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See offical news release: https://vintagetexas.com/?p=2127
Hmmm! How are they going to reconcile the 3-tier system issue since they own retail shops that sell wine and beer and now they own a manufacturing (production) winery? Isn’t this a violation of the law?
There are ways, especially if a partner or spouse is the winery permit holder or the liquor license holder of the commercial sales outlet. I have been told that this can also work if there is a felony involved.
When did this change? A spouse according to the law may not have an interest in an alcohol manufacturing business if either spouse also have an interest in a retail or distribution business that sells alcohol. At least that was the law as explained by the TABC less than two years ago. This is the reason why a person with a restaurant serving wine couldn’t own a winery if the restaurant was outside the winery and serving other wines. We tried and got shut down! Has this law changed in the last two years?
Also, according to TABC regulations (reading them now and maybe old) if a person is convicted of a DWI, they can’t be the holder of a liquor permit. Has this changed to?
I don’t profess to be a legal expert. Point me to the part in the regs that you are talking about.
There may be some differences in winery permits and liquor licenses.
I got a call from TABC last week that said, regarding winery licenses, if a person clears a five year background check for felonies, they are OK for licensing. Also, in Texas it takes three DWI convictions to make it a felony.
Also, one thing I do know is that TABC regs are subject to local interpretation.
It is within CHAPTER 102. INTRA-INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIPS. I also understand that a lot of time the answers depends on who is interpreting the law; even within the TABC. Our understanding is based on discussions with attorneys and the TABC directly.
This is likely why Mandola and Duchman linked up to keep things separate between the restaurants liquor licenses and the winery permitting.
Hope this works out better, as Mandola and Duchman has a bitter slit up at the Mandola Estate Winery which is now Duchman Family Winery.
I have to go back and get a law degree.
Russ