top of page
About

Let us be your guide.

Winery transactions are complicated.  Our goal is to help wineries, law firms, brokers and bankers navigate alcohol beverage laws and regulations and their impact on a transaction.  We look forward to helping you stay focused and keeping your deal priorities on track.

About Cronbach Law Group

We are a Napa, California, law firm dedicated to providing expert guidance on the complex process of winery transactions and regulatory integration. With a combined 25 years of experience in successfully navigating the labyrinth of permitting and licensing, distributor contracts, buyer/seller due diligence, data room review and assessment of material due diligence issues, we are well-placed to lead wineries, law firms and brokers through the transactional process.

We provide business-oriented guidance from data room set-up to fast-paced due diligence review and integration planning. In-house counsel and external deal firms typically have their hands full with other transaction-related priorities; the assessment of items such as regulatory transitions and distributor-alignment issues often stay low on the priority list until the transaction closes. This can create unnecessary delay and additional complexity during integration. As a specialist in this field, Cronbach Law Group takes the pressure off clients when it comes time to buy or sell a winery or brand.

Mission

Practice Specialties

Practice

Data Room

For sellers and brokers, we review and organize required data room items and assess how to resolve missing items.  For buyers and deal firms, we identify missing or incomplete regulatory items quickly and prioritize our assessment based on potential impact to the transaction.

Due Diligence

We review data room contents related to licensing, permitting, distributor alignment and more, providing a summary of material items organized by pre and post closing impact.  Assistance resolving issues or managing external compliance providers available upon request.

Integration Planning

Pulling all the unique aspects of a transaction together we organize an integration timeline based on our client’s priorities. The timeline(s) may cover notification of ownership changes, wholesale licensing, direct to consumer (DTC) licensing, distributor integration and more.

headshotAC.png
Alicia H. Cronbach
Attorney

Working in the wine industry for over 15 years, Alicia has held general counsel positions at Treasury Wine Estates and Duckhorn Wine Company, guiding the regulatory integration of Treasury’s acquisition of the Diageo wine portfolio and Duckhorn’s integrations of Calera and Kosta Browne. Alicia founded Cronbach Law Group PC in May 2019 to focus on steering wineries, law firms and brokers through the complex maze of winery transactions.

headshotSS.png
Sarah A. Spiller
Director of Integration Strategy

Sarah has worked with Alicia Cronbach since 2007, when they joined the legal team at Treasury Wine Estates Americas – Sarah as a Compliance Specialist, Alicia as a Legal Administrator. Each rose up the ranks at Treasury and beyond, their paths intersecting again at Cronbach Law Group PC, where Sarah provides expertise in all areas of regulatory compliance, specializing in winery transactions and integration planning.

Cronbach Law Group

Clients

News

Practising Law Institute, Alcohol Law
Key Due Diligence Items in M&A

May 10, 2019

Hot Topics and Transactions

September 18, 2020

Due Diligence Basics

May 7, 2021

Sonoma State University School of Business & Economics

Wine Legal and Regulatory Issues

Instructor, Professional MBA Program

Public Policy, Regulatory Issues and Civic Leadership

Instructor, Executive MBA Program

Napa Valley College

Winery Compliance and Recordkeeping

Instructor

Contact
bottom of page