How new owners are remaking SLO County winery into an experience beyond tasting
While some San Luis Obispo County grape growers are ripping out vines to escape the wine business amid a barrage of challenges, the piles of unearthed vines that dot the landscape at Laetitia Vineyards and Winery are instead a sign of the estate’s rebirth into a vision of what a modern, experience-minded winery should be.
The once-beleaguered Arroyo Grande property came under new ownership in October 2024 after a bankruptcy triggered layoffs, a closure and financial and reputational blows.
While the last year mostly consisted of damage control, partner and winemaker Eric Hickey told The Tribune that his team has a lot of plans for the estate’s future — starting with a complete overhaul of its decades-old vineyard acreage and focusing on a broader overall experience beyond the wine itself.
Hickey, who has worked at Laetitia for more than three decades, said the changes his team has planned will set the property up for success for decades to come.
After years of tumult, Hickey said his team will be “bringing a lot of the fun back.”
And that means reenvisioning what a visit to the winery looks like compared to the past.
“The market has changed. There’s definitely been a shift in the wine business,” Hickey said. “And you have to be adaptable.”
“These days, the wine is important, but secondary, and almost arguably more important than the wine sometimes is, what’s happening at your winery?” he continued. “What’s the space like itself? Is it friendly for the kids? Is it friendly for the dog? We’ve got hiking trails. We’re going to be putting in mountain bike trails. So we want people to experience the space and the land here, and of course, enjoy the wine.”
A year of recovery after bankruptcy disrupts SLO County winery
Hickey, alongside partners Ejnar Knudsen and Jeff Nicholson, bought Laetitia in October 2024 after the estate’s parent company, Vintage Wine Estates, went bankrupt.
The bankruptcy resulted in widespread layoffs and a temporary closure of the Arroyo Grande tasting room, disrupting business and burning vendors in the process, according to previous Tribune reporting.
For the past year, the trio of new owners have been in recovery mode.
Hickey told The Tribune that the team has spent time getting the word out that the estate is under new, private ownership — and importantly, that the tasting room is still open.
The new Laetitia team also reached out to former wine club members who canceled their membership during the corporate ownership.
“We got a lot of them back,” Hickey said. “We have a lot of what we call founder members that have been part of this experience for 20 years.”
What can SLO County expect from Laetitia wines moving forward?
Perhaps the biggest undertaking is the removal and replanting of Laetitia’s entire existing vineyard acreage.
Around 220 acres of the more than 900-acre property will be redeveloped, including existing vineyard lands and some other areas of the property that have an ideal soil type — but not all of it will be wine grapes. The estate plans to add avocado and citrus orchards on site as well, marking an expansion into new markets.
Meanwhile, the vineyard acres will lay fallow for around two years to allow the soil to regenerate after decades of continued use, Hickey said. When the time comes to replant, Laetitia will explore some new varietals in addition to its signature sparkling classics.
“Pinot noir and chardonnay will be the staple, because that’s what we’re known for,” he told The Tribune. “Those are the base for the sparkling wine.”
He continued: “One of the varieties I want to put ... in here, is pinot meunier, which is a traditional Champagne variety that we haven’t grown here before.”
Other new varietals will include sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc, and Laetitia will bring back a syrah crop.
After working with old vines that had long surpassed their best production age, Hickey told The Tribune he’s excited to have a young, fresh crop again.
“It’s just going to set us up for the next 40 years,” he said. “It’s the next generation that we’re setting up.”
While it’s regenerating its vineyards, Laetitia plans to continue making wine using grapes from neighboring properties that grow in similar conditions and meet quality standards, according to a news release.
The grapes are six different clones of pinot noir and three clones of chardonnay, Hickey said.
What else is changing at Laetitia’s estate?
The agricultural developments aren’t the only changes coming to Laetitia.
The estate plans to carve out hiking and biking trails throughout the ocean-view property, which is protected by the SLO County Land Conservancy, in hopes of providing more public recreation opportunities for locals.
The estate is also planning to remodel its 1980s-era press room into a modern event space.
Additionally, Laetitia’s traditional hydraulic Coquard grape presses — which Hickey said are the only two operational in North America — will also be brought back into commission after about four years sitting unused.
Hickey hopes the community will come observe the pressing process during future harvests, and he signaled plans to host grape stomps and other community events.
“(We’re) just trying to get people to be a part of what we’re doing,” he said.
Laetitia’s tasting room, located off Highway 101 in Arroyo Grande, is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reservations and walk-ins are welcome.
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