A big name in Napa Valley wine is moving into craft spirits.
Charlie Wagner of Caymus Vineyards has acquired a majority stake in Spokane, Washington-based Dry Fly Distilling, the distiller announced today. The acquisition marks a new chapter of expansion for the distillery, a player in Pacific Northwest spirits since 2007. With products currently distributed across 35 states, Dry Fly aims to further expand its national presence with the support of the Wagner family.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The deal was born over a collaboration on a decade-long whiskey project aged in Caymus wine barrels slated for release next year. Through that work, the two companies “realized they had a great synergy and wanted to make the relationship official,” according to the release.
Dry Fly Distilling founder Don Poffenroth also hinted that the acquisition may free him up for retirement.
“We share the same vision and we are thrilled to put Dry Fly and its future growth in their hands,” he said in a release. “I have no doubt this will be a great partnership. Also, as I approach retirement, I hope it will free me up to do a little more fishing.”
As part of the deal, Patrick Donovan, Dry Fly’s first employee, will step up to the President of the company. The distillery will also onboard Donald Kidd as the new national vice president of sales and marketing, bringing his 30 years of industry experience to spearhead Dry Fly’s marketing strategies and sales expansion. Most recently, Kidd served as vice president of sales for Southern Champion, parent company of BuzzBallz, and previously spent 11 years at Hood River Distillers and Pendleton Whiskey. Charlie Wagner and Mike Carlson, V.P. and General Counsel at Caymus Vineyards have joined the company’s board of directors.
Dry Fly, which labels itself as farm-to-bottle operation for its grains sourced from local family farms, has expanded production capacity and its product lines in recent years. In 2021, the company welcomed a new facility with nearly four times its prior distillation capacity, upping the production of its whiskey, vodka and gin, with some of that liquid going towards canned cocktails. The company debuted its line of “On The Fly” prepared cocktails in 2019, which got a boost from the new facility’s canning capacity from 40 cans per minute to 100 per minute. Last year the company began shipping online to several states outside of Washington, and began contract distilling as well.
The Wagner family comes from a long line of grape growers and winemakers, with a history dating back to the 1850s. In 1972, Chuck Wagner started Caymus Vineyards in Rutherford, Napa Valley with his late parents, and now runs the operation as well as Caymus-Suisun Winery in Suisun Valley, California with his children, Charlie and Jenny Wagner.
“Assuming a bigger stake in the company speaks to my excitement over Dry Fly’s vision, passion and expertise, and its ability to make products that truly stand out in the market,” said Charlie Wagner.
With wine sales down in recent years, other winemakers have also turned to craft spirits to find growth. Foley Family Wines (FFW) is one of the larger wine companies to make a recent high-profile move into spirits: the Sonoma Valley-based company with more than 20 wineries and vineyard properties launched a distillery operation in Minden, Nevada last year. Smaller wineries are also pivoting into spirits, viewing the category as another avenue to sell luxury products, while others see the move as a push towards sustainability.
Other family-owned leaders in wine, such as Gallo, have built on existing distribution networks to find new opportunities in spirits. Spirit of Gallo was launched in 2021 as a distinct brand to focus on the development of spirits and RTDs, and has found success with leading RTD High Noon, something Wagner might be aiming to replicate with Dry Fly’s eight spirits-based canned cocktail SKUs, ranging from its most popular Huckleberry Lemonade with vodka to a Whiskey Smash and Hibiscus Cosmo.