Looks like Mick has some business problems concerning his wine (not, seemingly of his own making).
Courthouse News Service
Thursday, December 31, 2015Last Update: 2:50 PM PT
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MONTEREY, Calif. (CN) - Rock legend Mick Fleetwood's wine company says the winemaker behind his label abruptly closed, sold its assets and stiffed him for more than $172,000 in royalties.
In 2012, Fleetwood - legendary drummer and co-founder of the rock band Fleetwood Mac - hired Chateau Julien in Carmel, California, to make and bottle three white varietals and two red varietals to be labeled "Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar" and shipped to a distributor in Maui. The wine is sold online and in specialty shops and restaurants all over the world.
According to the complaint filed by Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar in Monterey Superior Court on Dec. 23, Chateau Julien agreed to pay a royalty of $120 for each case of 12 bottles sold to the distributor. Fleetwood says the first 15 payments totaling more than $101,000 were made, but after nearly three years the deal went sour - both figuratively and literally.
In March, still unaware of Chateau Julien's impending financial collapse, Fleetwood noticed that the winemaker had not only fallen behind on its royalty payments, but had made a shipment of Pinot Grigio that was inferior and at first rejected, the complaint says.
Fleetwood finally accepted the bad wine on the promise that Chateau Julien would fulfill its order and send good wine if he paid for the bad, but he never received it, the complaint says.
Worse yet, Chateau Julien promised to pay more than $18,000 in royalties it owed if Fleetwood bought the rest of the stock of more than 1,200 cases. Unfortunately, after Fleetwood bought the wine Julien just owed $154,000 more in royalties and didn't pay, Fleetwood says in the complaint.
What Fleetwood didn't know was that Chateau Julien had been working on a sale for months, probably spurred by a September 2014 collection action by Union Bank to recover more than $5 million it loaned to the winemaker. Union Bank claimed that family members had diverted company funds to themselves.
A month after selling its remaining stock to Fleetwood, Chateau Julien closed shop and moved off the land it was leasing from a sister company, Coastal Cypress Corp. Owners Robert and Patricia Brower and son Robert Jr. owned both companies and, according to Fleetwood's complaint, destroyed all of Chateau Julien's business records during the move.
This past September, Monterey real estate firm Folktale LLC bought the vineyard, winery, bottling plant, farmhouse, estate residence, land and equipment for $12 million in deal that took over a year to work out, according to a statement by commercial real estate firm Mahoney & Associates.
Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar is represented by Russell De Phillips of Milberg & De Phillips in Cardiff by the Sea, California.
In addition to the royalties due of $172,090.80, Fleetwood's company seeks punitive damages for fraud, unfair business practices and conversion. Neither party returned telephone messages requesting comment by press time.