A growing Oregon wine brand known for a white blend has been acquired by one of the nation’s biggest wine companies.
NEWBERG, Oregon — This story comes from the Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner. The full story is here.
Big Salt, a growing Oregon wine brand known for a white blend, was acquired by California-based Jackson Family Wines, one of the nation’s biggest wine companies.
Terms of the deal for the brand, founded by husband and wife John and Ksenija House in 2016, were not disclosed.
The Houses, who also make wine under their Ovum label, are staying on with Big Salt under five-year contracts, a Jackson Family spokesperson said.
“Jackson Family Wines gives us the ability to grow without compromising our values, our people, or our process,” John House said in a written statement. “We get to stay us and bring these wines to more tables.”
The acquisition happened last year, a Jackson Family spokesperson said, but was announced on March 1, coinciding with the release of the first Big Salt wines made under Jackson Family, from the 2025 vintage.
Jackson Family Wines, headquartered in Santa Rosa, is the sixth-largest U.S. wine company, according to Wine Business Monthly, with 6 million cases sold in 2025. Kendall-Jackson Private Reserve Chardonnay is the company’s longtime workhorse, but it has a portfolio of some 40 brands.
For more than decade, Jackson Family has been one of the most enthusiastic California companies to invest in Oregon, with Penner-Ash and WillaKenzie among its acquisitions. It developed a winery at the former Evergreen International Aviation campus in McMinnville in 2017.
Big Salt represents a big boost in Jackson Family’s Oregon production.
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