The Wine Group has purchased six notable brands to go with the products it bottles and boxes in the Ripon area and elsewhere.

The deal with Constellation Brands comes with about 6,000 acres of vineyard, plus three wineries in San Joaquin, Sonoma and Monterey counties.

Two of the labels are sparkling wines: Cook’s and J. Rogét. The purchase also involves the still wines Meiomi, Simi, Woodbridge and Robert Mondavi Private Selection.

The Wine Group kept all 500 or so of these operations’ employees, raising its total payroll to about 1,500. That is welcome news as the industry faces sagging demand.

“We’re thrilled to close this exciting acquisition and welcome 500 new team members to our incredible team,” Chief Executive Officer John Sutton said in a news release. “The addition of highly regarded brands — along with new sites that expand our in-house innovation capabilities — further empowers us to deliver the range of offerings consumers want, for all types of occasions.”

The Wine Group had 33 online job openings at seven sites around California as of Tuesday. It needs people to grow grapes, make and ship wine, maintain equipment and do other tasks.

The purchase price was not disclosed by the privately held company. It remains No. 2 in U.S. volume behind E. & J. Gallo Winery of Modesto.

Where is The Wine Group based?: The Wine Group is based in the Livermore Valley but has its largest production along Highway 120 northeast of Ripon. That site turns out Franzia boxed wines and bottles several other lines, such as Cupcake and Chloe.

Plants in Madera, Fresno and Tulare counties also make wine from San Joaquin Valley grapes, generally cheaper than premium regions.

The purchase included the Woodbridge Winery, which is located in the upscale Lodi region but also handles generic Valley wines.

The cheapest is called Woodbridge, in bottles and boxes.

The site also does the premium Robert Mondavi Private Selection, named for the late industry icon, as well as Meiomi, Cook’s and J. Rogét.

The higher-priced Simi comes from Healdsburg in the Sonoma Valley, home already to other operations for The Wine Group.

Its other new winemaking site is in Gonzales, about five miles north of its plant in Soledad, Monterey County. The company also owns the New York state winery that makes Mogen David.

Why has per-capita wine drinking shrunk?: The purchase happened amid a drop in wine consumption. Industry experts have noted that some young people are choosing beer or hard liquor, while others want lower alcohol or none at all.

Per-capita U.S. consumption was 2.68 gallons per year in 2023, the most recent report from the Wine Institute, based in San Francisco. It was the lowest since the 2.57 gallons in 2010. The figured spiked to 3.16 gallons in 2021, attributed to pandemic purchases.

The Wine Group’s chief operations officer, Mike Donich, talked about the trends in a June 30 phone interview with The Modesto Bee, and by email.

“Despite a lot of the pessimism written about the category, we’re actually quite optimistic,” he said. “We have the capabilities, the brands, the quality, the team and the mindset to unlock growth, and we’re incredibly energized to do it.”

Donich said The Wine Group is concerned about the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump but has not yet seen a major impact.

What new products have emerged?: The company has joined the trend of wine producers adding other ingredients to attract new customers. Cupcake bubbly now has mimosa versions, bottled under pressure with either orange or mango juice. Franzia boxes now dispense two wine cocktails, one tasting like a margarita, the other like spiked lemonade.

The Wine Group invented boxed wine with Franzia in 1985. It has been the top-selling brand from any U.S. producer since 1994.

More recently, the company has stressed the environmental benefits of cardboard vs. glass containers in manufacturing and hauling. It also notes that all of its vineyards and wineries are certified sustainable. The effort includes limiting pesticide use, landfill waste, energy and water use and other impacts.

The Wine Group began in the 1970s as a division of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in New York. A buyout took it private in 1981. The Ripon-area plant, built by Teresa and Guiseppe Franzia in 1906, was among its first holdings.

Three grandsons named Franzia went on in 1973 to launch Bronco Wine Co. off Keyes Road. It has dealth with some of the most painful effects of the industry slump, laying off 227 of its 750 employees earlier this year.

How many cases do industry leaders ship?: The Wine Group added about 12 million cases of annual capacity with the Constellation purchase. It now stands at 52 million, according the wineindustry.com.

Gallo leads with about 94 million cases in that magazine’s most recent estimate.

Trinchero Family Estates, based in the Napa Valley, is third at 19 million. In fourth place at 16.3 million is Delicato Family Wines, which has its largest plant just north of Manteca.

Constellation said the sale to The Wine Group would allow it to focus on higher-priced products.

They include another Mondavi brand from Napa, along with Schrader, Double Diamond, Mount Veeder, Prisoner and Kim Crawford.

Constellation shed even more brands in a 2020 sale to Gallo. The Modesto company also got wineries in New York state, where the seller is based, and in Washington state and California.