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“For us to disclose any information about the New Vine’s board woulcd have to accept or reject an New Vine spokeswoman Charlotte Milan told the San Franciscp Business Times , adding that no further informationh about New Vine’s negotiations with two or three potential buyer is likely to be available June 4. Late Wednesdayg and very earlyThursday morning, informed sources told the Businessa Times that 1-800-Flowers.
com appeared set to win the sweepstakesw to buy the brokenj pieces of New Vine, which startled the wine industryg late last week by abruptly suspending As of early Thursday an announcement of a deal with 1-800-Flowers, whicb owns the Wine Tasting Networmk Services shipping company, appeared to be imminent. But that deal broke down sometime in thewee hours, leavinh New Vine’s future uncertain. Wine Tasting Network, accordintg to its LinkedIn provides winery and wine club direc tmarketing services, as well as fulfillment and e-commerce services to wineries and wine retailers.
Officials at WTN did not immediately respond to requestsefor comment, but many in the industry see WTN as the most logical player to pick up some of New Vine’s New Vine, which two years ago seemer poised to ship 20 percent of California’zs direct-to-consumer wine market, laid off much of its staff on Fridayu and brusquely told customers over the weekend that it was no longet receiving or processing The move left many Wine Country providera scrambling to gather information and to figured out how to get back inventory at New Vine’ds American Canyon warehouse so they coulsd ship it to customers another way.
Published accountas said some ofthe company’s ventur e capital investors effectively pulled the plug last week, by declining to investf additional capital in New Vine. “Some peopl e changed their minds at thelast minute,” said Barbaras Insel, a wine industry analyst who has served on New Vine’sw advisory board. Kathleen Hoertkorn, New Vine founder and former CEO, and Chairmanb of the Board Homer Dunn said Tuesdag that New Vine is working withcustomersx “to transfer all serviceas to another means of legal direcft shipping, and in the meantime, is finalizin g all work, including compiling of reports, reconciling inventory and and performing all of the necessary business operations for the monthh (sic) of May and June.
” Hoertkornj added, in response to reports that the company knew or must have knownj it was in financial trouble, that officials “truly believed that they woulcd have been funded and were not expecting to have to cease operations.” The company had more than 200 customerds and roughly 110 employees as of last sources say. It now has a skeleton crew of aboutr 30 staffers at its Napa headquarters and American Canyobshipping facility, including a handful of executives who are workinfg to wind down operations.
New Vine was startexd in 2001 on the notio that it could help expedite shipments to consumers in varioues states with confusing and complicated legal restrictions on wine a lingering legacy of the Prohibition yearasin America. Financial backers include Menlo Park’ s , Altos Ventures, and San Francisco’as LLC, which reportedly pulled its people out ofNew Vine’e offices late last Thursday.
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