FAQs about the Estate Sale
1. Does the sale of the estate mean Arista is changing ownership? No, Arista Winery remains solely owned by brothers Mark and Ben McWilliams. They continue to oversee all aspects of the business and winemaking, ensuring the same dedication to quality and craftsmanship.
2. Who bought the Arista Winery estate property? The estate property on Westside Road was purchased by Young’s Holdings, the family holding company of the Underwood family. This sale is separate from Arista Winery’s ownership and does not impact our brand, winemaking operations, or distribution of Arista wines.
3. Why did Arista sell the estate property? The sale was driven by the estate planning of Arista’s founders, Al and Janis McWilliams, who decided to move to the East Coast to be closer to family. The sale allows Arista’s owners, Mark and Ben McWilliams, to strengthen their focus on winemaking and brand growth while maintaining financial strength for the winery’s future.
4. Will Arista continue to produce its wines? Yes. Arista Winery winemaking remains the same. We continue to produce our acclaimed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with winemaker Matt Courtney leading production. Our wines are still being produced in the state-of-the-art winemaking facility built in 2018, and our focus on sourcing fruit from top-tier vineyards in the Russian River Valley remains unchanged.
5. How does this sale impact Arista’s wine availability? The only change is that our wines will no longer be offered through a tasting room. Mark and Ben and Arista team members are moving the administrative offices to downtown Healdsburg, and we are not yet ready to host visitors at the Arista Winery administrative offices.
There is no impact on the access to our single vineyard, and limited wines that our active A-List members have through the Member Portal. This member-only area of our website is where Arista’s limited-production wines will continue to be sold on a first-come, first-served basis to A-List members through our winter, spring and fall releases. Select Arista wines are also available in high-end restaurants and retailers nationwide. We also can continue to offer our Russian River Valley appellation wines on our online store so anyone can purchase them there.
6. Will Arista still allow visitors to 7015 Westside Road? Effective February 28, 2025, Arista no longer hosts wine tastings or events at 7015 Westside Road. We are excited to let A-List Members know that we have been working on reserving the venues, caterer, etc. so that we can continue to offer our popular and annual A-List member events at various idyllic locations in the Healdsburg vicinity. For those who don't know, our three annual events include our July Chardonnay Party, August Harvest Dinner and October Fall Party. We expect another great year of fun events in 2025, and we are confident these events will continue the fun we've had with our past events the last decade.
7. Will Arista offer opportunities to pick up my wine orders and/or wine tastings with this move? The McWilliams Family and Arista Team are currently planning ways to still book appointments in the future. We will update Active A-List Members as soon as we have this plan in place. We'll also make sure to let those with wine holding for you to pickup as soon as we can!
8. Will Arista continue working with the estate vineyards? While Arista no longer owns the estate vineyards, which accounted for only about 10% of Arista’s total wine production, we remain committed to working with our trusted grower partners, sourcing fruit from some of the most esteemed vineyards in the Russian River Valley, ensuring the continued production of exceptional wines. We continue to have long-term contracts with El Diablo Vineyard, Flora Marie Vineyard, Kanzler Vineyard, Mononi Vineyard, Ritchie Vineyard, Reuling Vineyard, UV Lucky Well Vineyard, UV Vineyard, and more.
9. Can I still purchase the Arista Estate wines? Absolutely! The 2023 Estate Pinot Noir is currently available in the Winter 2025 Release, which is open to A-List Members in the Member Portal. In future A-List Releases, we will offer the 2024 Estate Pinot, 2023 Estate Chardonnay and 2024 Estate Chardonnay. When you see the Estate wines available to you in your allocation, we highly recommend you maximize your purchase! If you are not on the A-List at this time, we recommend you join the waiting list today so that you can have the opportunity to secure Arista's Estate wines in the future.