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Two families formerly bonded as the proprietors and operators of Concannon Vineyard in Livermore have turned against each other in a legal battle over ownership and rights to company assets after their divorce this winter.
The dispute runs between Lemmons Family Vineyards, owned by Tom and Paige Lemmons, and Darcie Kent Winery with its subsidiary Almost Famous Wine, owned by Darcie and David Kent.
Through a series of agreements, Lemmons Family Vineyards sold Concannon assets to Almost Famous in 2024 with the opportunity to repurchase. The agreements reached at the time also laid out terms for Almost Famous to lease a portion of the Concannon property and Darcie Kent Winery’s bonded wine transfer payments to Lemmons Family Vineyards.
About a year and a half later, Lemmons Family Vineyards filed an amended civil complaint against Almost Famous and Darcie Kent Winery alleging they failed to pay dues and bonded transfer payments totaling about $966,000 as well as wrongfully maintained company assets and diverted Lemmons Family Vineyards’ revenue.
Almost Famous and Darcie Kent Winery refuted all allegations and filed a cross-complaint June 8 posing their own allegations against Lemmons Family Vineyards, including the company’s false claim to ownership of the Concannon business and its wrongful use of the business’ intellectual property.
Lemmons Family Vineyards subsequently filed an answer July 8 with the Alameda County Superior Court to deny all allegations, statements and implications of the cross-complaint.
Both sides seek a trial by jury to settle the dispute.
Darcie Kent Winery officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.
“LFV stands by its First Amended Complaint and its Answer to DKW/AFW’s Cross-Complaint,” Lemmons Family Vineyards attorney Jas S. Dhillon told the Pleasanton Weekly.
Prior to the legal battle, Lemmons Family Vineyards acquired Concannon Vineyard from longtime owner The Wine Group, LLC, in 2024.
As a result of the purchase, Lemmons Family Vineyards became the owners and operators of the winery as well as business assets such as intellectual property, customer data and Wine Club Membership revenues and operations, according to the lawsuit.
Lemmons Family Vineyards agreed Nov. 25, 2024 to sell the Concannon business to Almost Famous for $1.8 million with the option to repurchase the assets by paying the value of the physical wine inventory, the cross-complaint states.
Also “on or about” Nov. 25, 2024, Lemmons Family Vineyards and Almost Famous agreed to a facilities lease for use and operation of Concannon facilities by Almost Famous and Darcie Kent Winery, according to the amended complaint.
Officials from Lemmons Family Vineyards and Darcie Kent Winery publicly announced their partnership in a statement that day. David Kent and Darcie Kent planned to operate Concannon’s winery operations and relocate their other business Almost Famous to the property, according to that press release.
In exchange, Almost Famous was responsible for paying monetary obligations, dubbed rent, and additional charges “without deduction, offset or recoupment whatsoever”, the Lemmons complaint states.
The base rent was listed as $100 on the facilities lease, but Almost Famous was also responsible for expenses such as operating costs, ordinary repairs, maintenance, cleaning, janitorial costs, utilities, common systems, common services, insurance, reimbursement obligations, late charges and interest, according to the complaint.
Darcie Kent Winery guaranteed all obligations for Almost Famous, the complaint states.
The three businesses also entered a separate contract, dubbed the brand agreement, according to the complaint.
Under the brand agreement, Almost Famous and Darcie Kent Winery assumed Concannon business operations and “certain” Lemmons Family Vineyards assets, the complaint states. Darcie Kent Winery also agreed to pay $100,000 monthly to Lemmons Family Vineyards for the bonded transfer of certain wine inventory until the price of that wine was paid off at no less than $1,800,000.
Lemmons Family Vineyards alleges that from December 2024 through March 2026, Almost Famous and Darcie Kent Winery defaulted on the facilities lease and brand agreements by failing to pay rent and related charges (approximately $422,000) as well as the bonded transfer wine payments (approximately $544,000).
During the alleged defaults, the relationship between the Lemmons Family Vineyards and Darcie Kent Winery officials appeared publicly amicable.
On Jan. 5, Darcie Kent Winery officials were “thrilled to announce” that Lemmons Family Vineyards was set to acquire sole ownership of Concannon on Aug. 1, including hospitality operations.
Darcie Kent Winery owned the Concannon brand, inventory and business at the time, David Kent told the Weekly in January.
“We will be selling back the assets on the same terms, which was always the plan,” he added, but he did not disclose the resale value.
Prior to the transition, the Kent family was poised to be “fully engaged in day-to-day management while working closely with the Lemmons to ensure a smooth and thoughtful transition”, Darcie Kent Winery officials said in the statement.
Tom Lemmons expressed a shared sense of optimism in the statement from Darcie Kent Winery.
“As Concannon enters this next chapter, both families share a deep sense of excitement for the future,” Tom Lemmons said in January. “The combination of historic vineyards, multi-generational leadership and a shared commitment to elevating the Livermore Valley creates an extraordinary foundation for the years ahead. We look forward to everything this transition will bring for Concannon, for our customers and for the entire Livermore wine community.”
About two months later, Lemmons Family Vineyards on March 13 served a formal notice of default regarding the facilities lease and brand agreements, demanding a cure, the complaint states.
Six days later, Lemmons Family Vineyards declared its termination of both agreements after Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous failed to cure its monetary defaults, according to the complaint. Lemmons Family Vineyards also declared its contractual right to repurchase assets to begin operating Concannon Vineyard.
“Defendants deliberately refused to transfer such assets in an effort to gain bargaining advantage and to pressure Plaintiff,” the amended complaint states.
Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous have continued use of Concannon systems and website domain as well as unauthorized collection of Concannon revenues, according to Lemmons Family Vineyards.
Lemmons Family Vineyards is seeking immediate transfer of all assets and the prohibition of Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous from collecting and retaining revenues from the Concannon business.
But according to the cross-complaint, Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous performed all contractual obligations and Lemmons Family Vineyards does not have proper cause to terminate the lease agreement or what their attorney dubbed the “Amended and Restated Brand Development and Wine Grape Purchase and Sale Agreement”.
The businesses “paid (Lemmons Family Vineyards) for the grapes, made timely and complete rent payments, and produced and sold wine as the contract provided”, the cross-complaint states.
Additionally, Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous argue that Lemmons Family Vineyards failed to abide by a required 30-day cure period prior to terminating the brand development and wine grape purchase and sale agreement.
But Lemmons Family Vineyards served Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous with a three-day notice March 24 to pay $422,141.48 in unpaid rent, according to its complaint. The businesses did not pay, but they agreed to move out of the Concannon premises by 11:59 p.m. on March 31, the complaint states.
Lemmons Family Vineyards allege that three days later Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous processed over $600,000 prematurely from Concannon wine club membership “without any legal right”.
Meanwhile, the cross-complaint alleges that Lemmons Family Vineyards stole Darcie Kent Winery’s wine club member list to “wrongfully divert” approximately $600,000 of revenue to itself.
Lemmons Family Vineyards has refused to repurchase Concannon assets and inventory, as required by contract, and misrepresents itself as the owner of the Concannon business, according to the cross-complaint.
In claiming their ownership of Concannon assets, Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous allege that Lemmons Family Vineyards improperly use their intellectual property as well as improperly possess and sell wine inventory owned and maintained by the two businesses.
Lemmons Family Vineyards is also accused of interfering with Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous’s third-party vendor contracts and misappropriating protectable trade secret information.
Darcie Kent Winery and Almost Famous seek a court order to stop Lemmons Family Vineyards from selling wine inventory as well as accessing and misappropriating assets of the Concannon business until it has repurchased the business.
The next hearing for this case is scheduled for Aug. 10.
