Beretta family buys into Oregon's Ken Wright Cellars
The Italian gun-making family's agricultural arm has taken a minority stake in the Oregon winery and a majority stake in its vineyards, its first wine deal outside Italy.
The Gussalli Beretta family, the Italian firearms dynasty, has bought a minority stake in Ken Wright Cellars and a majority stake in its vineyards in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The deal, agreed through the family's wine holding company Upifra Agricole, follows roughly 14 months of negotiation and is the family's first wine investment outside Italy, Wine Spectator first reported.
Ken Wright, 72, keeps control of winemaking and daily operations. "Nothing changes in terms of our team or how it's managed," he said. He described the winery as financially stable but unable to grow as fast as he wanted, which led him to sell land and buildings to fund new investment. He called the deal a "feather in the cap" for Oregon's wine industry.
Pietro Gussalli Beretta framed the family's role as long-term support rather than control. "Our family has always believed that the best work comes from patience, precision and respect for tradition," he said.
Nothing changes in terms of our team or how it's managed.
A majority stake in three namesake vineyards
Beretta takes a majority holding in the Carter, Canary Hill and Savoya vineyards that Wright owns outright, plus long-term contracts covering eleven further vineyard sites. The package totals about 37 hectares, 25 of them planted, centred on Carlton.
Several Carlton properties change hands too, including the winemaking facilities and a tasting room inside a former railway station, where Wright will continue operating as a tenant. The minority stake in the winery itself leaves Wright as its largest shareholder; neither side disclosed a price or percentage.
Ken Wright Cellars joins a growing Italian portfolio
Wright moved to Oregon in 1986 after working in California, founded Panther Creek Cellars, sold it in 1994, and opened Ken Wright Cellars the same year. He became one of the Willamette Valley's first producers to bottle single-vineyard Pinot Noir, a practice that helped define how the region markets its wine, alongside names honoured at the Decanter Hall of Fame.
The Beretta family already holds stakes in five Italian estates: Lo Sparviere in Franciacorta, Castello di Radda in Chianti Classico, Fortemasso in the Langhe, Orlandi Contucci Ponno in Abruzzo and Steinhaus in Alto Adige, plus a majority stake in Bolgheri's Fabio Motta taken in 2024 and 40% of Friuli's Leonardo Specogna acquired in July 2025, a run of deals that echoes the acquisitive mood running through Veneto's Tre Bicchieri-rated wineries this year.
Ken Wright Cellars becomes the group's first holding outside Italy, a bet that four decades of reputation-building by producers like Wright still has room to grow.
