Legend Napa Valley winery closes in American Canyon

Custom crush winery in American Canyon shut down mid-harvest, displacing small winemakers

Legend Napa Valley, a custom crush facility at 100 Napa Junction Road in American Canyon, told clients in mid-August 2026 that it was ceasing operations immediately — just as the grape harvest was getting underway.

Custom crush wineries provide smaller producers with equipment, cellar space and storage they cannot afford to own outright. Legend's closure letter cited "extraordinary and sustained conditions affecting the wine industry" and barred any additional grapes from entering the facility.

Winemaker John Gibson picked Vermentino from the Sierra Foothills on Aug. 18 and received the closure notice the next day. He had until Sept. 3 to move his wine and equipment. Gibson, who makes wine for four brands and is a 50 percent partner in Four Winds, visited seven facilities in four days and split his inventory among three wineries. He paid at least $5,000 just to truck his barrels. He called the notice "a very overwhelming moment" and said the situation was unprecedented across his 47 harvests in Napa Valley. He said he may consider legal action once harvest wraps up.

Jay Nuñez, founder of No Love Lose Wine Co., said he saw the closure coming a couple of weeks before the letter arrived, after Legend raised his monthly fee from $4,000 to $9,200 and founder Andre Crisp refused to let him crush additional grapes at the facility. Nuñez had 15 tons of grapes scheduled to arrive the next day when the situation came to a head.

Patrick McEvoy, another client, said this was his third custom crush facility closure in three years. He had nine business days to move out and lost $1,000 he had paid for a California alcohol permit he never got to use at the site.

Crisp purchased the 20-acre property and its 20,000-square-foot winery in December 2021. As recently as 2023, Legend had brought on former Oregon and California winemaker Todd Nelson as general manager and head winemaker, planned a commercial kitchen and food program, and Crisp intended to build his family home on the property.

Legend sold the property last August to JSP Domaine 3 LLC, an entity connected to San Francisco-based developer Jackson Square Properties, for $5.5 million. The Domaine at Napa Junction, a 291-unit, 17-building apartment complex, was recently developed on adjacent land. Jackson Square said the sale was not intended to cause or require Legend's closure and attributed the shutdown to business conditions, including insufficient contracted grape volume. The developer said it has no current plans to build apartments on the Legend site and said it hopes Legend will reimagine its hospitality offering going forward.

The closure came amid a broader decline in U.S. wine sales. Roughly a quarter of California's wine grape vineyards have been removed or taken out of production since peak pandemic levels.

This article is based on reporting by Hoodline, drawing on San Francisco Chronicle coverage.