Attorney Michael Laszlo has seen a variety of winery deals come across his desk over the past 18 months, including larger wineries attempting to sell off some of their smaller brands. But few, if any, sales have taken place. The catch?
“There’s just not a market for it,” says Laszlo, a member of the law firm Clark Hill in Boulder and San Francisco, who represents clients in the wine business. “Some of these being offered are leading wineries that have fallen off but that could be revived, but there just isn’t any interest in them.”
Laszlo’s experience is not unusual. The U.S. mergers and acquisitions (M&A) business is yet another casualty of the worst wine slump in this country in 30 years. There have been very few deals over the past 18 months and almost no blockbusters – and no one expects that to change in the foreseeable future. A study by the investment bank Capstone Partners found that beverage sector M&A activity – even allowing for the blurring of category lines with the inclusion of RTDs – declined 18.3% in 2025, with most segments seeing a downturn. Furthermore, the number of public companies making deals accounted for the lowest proportion of deal volume since the bank began tracking the data in 2016.
In fact, analysts say that whatever activity does occur will almost certainly be related to forced sales and foreclosures as lenders begin to clean up bad loans. And they’re using terms left over from the bad, old 1990s, like taking a haircut, to describe the situation.
“The fundamental issue remains buyer and seller expectations,” says Erik McLaughlin, CEO of METIS in Walla Walla, Washington, a firm that focuses on winery mergers and acquisitions. “There’s very little overlap between what sellers are willing to take – even if they’re willing to take discounts of 10% to 20%, and what buyers are willing to pay, which is a 40% to 60% discount.”
Not much good news
A study by Napa’s Azur Associates was blunt: Only about a quarter of transactions completed in 2025 were done at values close to historical levels, and not only were the majority at discounts, but they also included deals completed under pressure from lenders. The only wine-related assets selling close to historical levels were the highest-quality vineyards; the report said there was limited demand for wine portfolios, wine brands, and wine facilities.
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