NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL EVENT

Best Places to Work 2008 Awards Reception

September 25, 2008, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, Rohnert Park

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The News in Brief

Constellation sells brands

NORTH COAST – Global spirits and wine giant Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) sold several North Coast and Pacific Northwest brands, including Geyser Peak in Geyserville and others acquired in December from Fortune Brands, to a new Sonoma-based partnership for $209 million in cash plus as much as $25 million more based on brand performance.

The buyer was Eight Estates Fine Wines LLC, doing business as Ascentia Wine Estates, led by Jim Debonis, former COO of the Healdsburg-based Beam Wine Estates wine group that Fortune sold to Constellation Brands in December. He is CEO of the new company, and former Wine.com CEO Peter Ekman is chief sales and marketing officer.

The other members of Ascentia are White Plains, N.Y.-based W.J. Deutsch & Sons, a wine marketing company behind the original “critter label” Yellow Tail from Australia, and San Francisco private-equity firm GESD Capital Partners. W.J. Deutsch will be sales and marketing agent for the Ascentia portfolio.

Brands included in the sale are Geyser Peak, Buena Vista and Gary Farrell in Sonoma County; Atlas Peak in Napa County; Ste. Chapelle in Idaho; and Covey Run and Columbia Winery in Washington. Case production for all the brands totaled 1 million last year.

The company expects to record a $23 million pretax loss with the sale, largely from writing off goodwill. Constellation plans to use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt.

International Wine Associates of Healdsburg advised Constellation Brands in the sale.

Enphase launches solar micro-inverter system

PETALUMA – Enphase Energy Inc. launched its solar micro-inverter system, the only one of its kind on the market.

The Enphase system includes high-efficiency micro-inverters, communications and Web-based analytics to maximize energy harvest and simplify design, installation and management of solar projects.

About 1,000 systems have been in beta testing with solar system providers, and the response validates Enphase claims that energy harvest is increased 5 percent to 25 percent, and balance-of-

system costs are reduced 13 percent to 15 percent over traditional inverter systems, said Enphase President and CEO Paul Nahi.

In the North Bay, Marin Solar – now owned by Real Goods in Hopland – Solar Depot in Petaluma and DC Power Systems in Healdsburg are customers.

Traditional inverters are large, difficult to install and have to be replaced about every five years, adding significantly to the maintenance costs of solar systems. The Enphase system has tested out to running 119 years, according to a study by Relex.

Additional savings come from automated monitoring of each solar panel, with alerts to system owners if production drops.

The company is targeting both the residential and commercial solar markets. Although commercial installations are at risk of losing their 30 percent federal installation incentives, Enphase doesn’t see more than a temporary slowdown in its sales.

Currently the units are manufactured by contract in Morgan Hill, but Mr. Nahi doesn’t rule out a change of manufacturers, possibly to the North Bay.

Enphase has been operating on a Series B funding round of $6.5 million, led by Third Point Ventures and including a contribution from Applied Materials. Another larger round will be sought sometime in 2008, said Mr. Nahi.

Three-year-old Enphase employs 40 in its Petaluma headquarters.

La Tortilla gets new CEO

SANTA ROSA – Carlos Tamayo will step aside as CEO of La Tortilla factory and longtime CFO Stan Mead will take the position.

Mr. Tamayo, co-founder with his parents of the 31-year-old tortilla manufacturing operation, will remain president and chairman; his brother Willie Tamayo will act as executive vice president of business development. In January, son Sam Tamayo stepped up from the position of plant manager to vice president and COO, and Jonna Greene was appointed vice president of human resources.

“This is a milestone and launches phase two of our growth and development,” said Mr. Tamayo. “Our family succession plan is to have Sam eventually take the CEO position, but right now he’s not quite ready.”

Sam Tamayo, 32, recently received his degree from the University of Phoenix.

Mr. Mead has been with La Tortilla factory 12 years, first as an independent contractor and then named CFO and vice president of finance in 2002.

“We’re fortunate to have someone like Stan to take the reins,” said Mr. Tamayo. “He has the business skills, he understands our family culture and he’s earned the respect of our 175 employees.”

La Tortilla factory operates nine production lines in its 75,000-square-foot facility in the Westwind Business Park near the Sonoma County airport. The company is on track to earn revenues of more than $30 million in 2008.

Mr. Mead said no radical changes were planned for the near future.

“I’ll emphasize a decisive business style. We’re still open to the idea of establishing plants elsewhere in the U.S., but right now we’re serving our market very well from Santa Rosa,” he said.

La Tortilla Factory has markets in the U.S., Canada and the Pacific Rim for its health-conscious line of tortillas and salsas. The company also has contracts with the U.S. military. Mr. Mead and Mr. Willie Tamayo will continue to expand the company’s markets and product line, with Mr. Sam Tamayo learning the ropes.

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