Brown-Forman, Korbel Champagne End Decades-Long Relationship

May 12, 2025

The two companies will end a sales, marketing and distribution agreement entered into decades ago and pursue their own growth objectives.

Andy Hanacek

Spirits company Brown-Forman Corp. and Korbel Champagne Cellars have announced that they will end their sales, marketing and distribution relationship effective June 30, 2025, according to a release posted to Brown-Forman’s web site. The relationship between the two companies spanned multiple decades.

Lawson Whiting, president and CEO, Brown-Forman Corp., said his company deeply values the history and collaborative spirit that characterized the relationship, but the time to end the agreement had come, and “we will each pursue our respective long-term growth objectives.”

Korbel Champagne Cellars president and owner, Gary Heck, echoed those statements in similar fashion.

The move is the latest by Brown-Forman Corp. in the past year-plus to disconnect itself from the wine category, having sold off its Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards business to The Duckhorn Portfolio last May.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.