A 42-year-old Napa Valley winery known for its dramatic architecture has reopened following a bankruptcy, an acquisition and a yearlong restoration.
Calistoga’s Clos Pegase, designed by famed postmodern architect Michael Graves, was collateral damage in the sudden bankruptcy of California wine conglomerate Vintage Wine Estates in 2024. More than 30 wine and spirits brands were auctioned off to the highest bidders, and Clos Pegase — along with four other classic California wineries — went to a surprising new owner: Billionaire Jay Adair, the executive chairman of Copart, a global online car auction company based in Dallas.
Adair, who, in the ‘90s, started a small family winery in Solano County’s lesser-known Suisun Valley, said he had never heard of Vintage Wine Estates until it went bankrupt. When he learned they owned Clos Pegase, he became interested in buying it; Adair had fond memories of the winery, which hosted a Copart event in 1999. “We went up there and saw it, and I was like, ‘What did they do to it?’ Everything was so not what I remembered,” he said. “They changed the colors, which was so asinine. The lawn was dead. The Cyprus trees were all scraggly. But I knew we could bring it back.”…