On November 21, 2025, WarRoom Cellars, a small Central Coast-based wine company founded in 2018, acquired the 149-year-old SIMI brand from The Wine Group. The announcement came only seven months after The Wine Group had purchased SIMI, along with five other labels and extensive real estate, from Constellation Brands in one of the largest transactions of the year.
The speed of the resale is unusual, but the structure of the deal is revealing. WarRoom has taken ownership of the SIMI trademark, existing finished inventory, brand archives, website, and related intellectual property. The historic Healdsburg winery, its stone cellars, tasting room, and any remaining estate vineyards stay with The Wine Group. In effect, The Wine Group has kept the real estate and shed the operating brand; WarRoom has added California’s sixth-oldest continuously operating wine name to its portfolio without acquiring a single acre or building.
For The Wine Group, the separation makes strategic sense. SIMI has long occupied the difficult $15–$25 retail tier in the United States: too expensive to win on pure volume against Woodbridge or Cupcake, yet not rare enough to command true luxury margins. In a market that has seen volume decline for three consecutive years, that middle ground has become the most vulnerable segment. CEO John Sutton described the sale as supporting “The Wine Group’s continuous focus on aligning our portfolio to current and long-term goals.” By retaining the landmark Healdsburg property, the company preserves an asset that can be repurposed for hospitality or future sale while eliminating the costs of a stagnant brand.
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WarRoom, by contrast, has built its entire business on exactly this type of transaction. The company owns no vineyards, no production facilities, and no tasting rooms. It buys heritage names, surveys consumers to discover what they still love (or could love again), redesigns packaging and blend profiles, and produces the wines at custom-crush partners across California. Distribution is handled nationally by long-term partner Total Beverage Solution. The formula has already taken Lapis Luna from under 3,000 cases to roughly 100,000, revived Bonny Doon Vineyard with new wines and imagery, and returned Parducci to growth after years of decline. As president Andrew Nelson told the San Francisco Chronicle, “The older the brand and the richer the history, the better.” SIMI, with current production around 340,000 cases, is by far the largest and most storied name WarRoom has acquired.
The brand’s narrative also aligns neatly with WarRoom’s approach. Founded in 1876 by Italian immigrants Giuseppe and Pietro Simi, the winery survived Prohibition under the leadership of Isabelle Simi, who assumed control at eighteen and ran it for more than sixty years. Later decades saw Zelma Long become one of California’s first prominent female head winemakers. Today, WarRoom’s director of winemaking, Nicole Walsh, will oversee the label, quietly extending a thread of female leadership that has run through the brand for most of its history.
Whether WarRoom can re-energize a name that has changed corporate hands repeatedly since the 1970s remains to be seen, but its track record suggests the odds are reasonable. In an industry pulling up vines and closing tasting rooms, the transaction is another clear signal: physical assets and brand assets are increasingly being separated, and a small, focused operator can now acquire California icons that were once considered untouchable. SIMI will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2026 without its original home, but very possibly with renewed momentum in the market.
