Lawsuit between players in Arizona wine world settled

A legal dispute between Aridus, one of Arizona’s largest winemaking facilities, and Rob Hammelman of Sand-Reckoner, one of the state’s most celebrated winemakers, has ended. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The civil lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning neither party could file similar claims again.

An attorney for Hammelman, Peter Goldman of Tucson, said the settlement terms were confidential. Attorneys for Aridus did not return requests for comment.

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Winemaker and winery come together 

From the outset, the dispute was more intense than a contract dispute. It involved a court order to retrieve barrels of wine, accusations of false labeling and winemakers giving sworn statements about the importance of terroir. 

For a time, Scott Dahmer, co-owner of Aridus, held thousands of gallons of Sand-Reckoner at the Aridus facility in Willcox until Hammelman secured a court order to remove it. Hammelman, in his filings, suggested that Aridus was deceiving customers with its wine labels, a claim Aridus disputed in its filings.

A judge last year urged both sides to look past the emotions involved, settle the financial dispute and get back to the craft of winemaking.

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The dispute ended what — on paper — seemed a sure-fire business scenario: Hammelman, one of the state’s top winemakers, being hired as chief winemaker for Aridus, a state-of-the-art facility located near the largest area of Arizona vineyards.

Aridus wanted to make wines to be sold under its own name. But it also built a large facility that could be used to process grapes for others, an arrangement known as “custom crush.” It would be an attractive facility for vineyard owners who didn’t operate their own wineries and who had been trucking their grapes for processing as far away as Camp Verde, in northern Arizona.

Hammelman, who studied winemaking in France, and whose Sand-Reckoner wines quickly gained acclaim in the state’s wine world, was hired by Aridus in July 2013. Hammelman was already making wine for other labels in the region. Those clients figured to follow him to the bigger facility at Aridus.

Differing views on work agreement

Hammelman, in court filings, said he understood the arrangement would allow him to make his Sand-Reckoner wines at the Aridus facility. He would use his own equipment and labor and pay Aridus some modest utility costs and for any yeasts or cleaning products he used.

However, Dahmer saw it differently. According to court filings, he presented Hammelman with a bill for making the Sand-Reckoner wine, treating it as an Aridus custom-crush client. Hammelman, in filings, said the amount was so much he couldn’t pay.

Dahmer also pointed to the employment agreement with Hammelman, in which Hammelman said his entire focus would be on Aridus duties. The agreement that Hammelman signed said he would "devote his entire working time, attention and energies" to Aridus' operations.

Dahmer said the wine Hammelman intended for his Sand-Reckoner label was rightfully property of Aridus.

That brought the initial claim — Hammelman Wines vs. Aridus Wine Co. —  filed in Cochise County in January 2015. Hammelman won a judge’s order that allowed him to remove thousands of gallons of Sand-Reckoner wine.

Getting back to business of making wine

Hammelman filed an amended complaint in March 2015. It included claims that Aridus was passing itself off as an Arizona wine, even though its grapes were sourced from California. Aridus, in its court filings, argued that its wines made with out-of-state grapes were properly labeled "American."

That same month, in Maricopa County, Aridus Wine filed a countersuit against Robert Hammelman as an individual, saying he broke his employment contract. Part of Aridus’ claim was that Hammelman violated a section of his contract in which he agreed to not disparage Aridus, nor reveal anything about the inner workings of the company.

Hammelman countersued, consolidating the complaints he filed in the Cochise County lawsuit into the Maricopa County case.

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He also sued Scott and Joan Dahmer individually, also naming Agave Trust, which the Dahmers operate.

All three lawsuits were ended with a filing agreed to by the parties on July 15.

According to the document, the parties “jointly stipulate that all claims and counterclaims asserted in this action are hereby dismissed with prejudice” and that each would pay its own attorney’s fees.

The order was signed by Judge Daniel Kiley on Thursday. It was posted to the court docket on Monday.

In a November hearing, another judge assigned to the case, Arthur Anderson, urged the two sides to settle.

“This is a business deal,” Anderson told the parties in court. “Take the emotion out of it and see what numbers make sense to you so you can get on to the business of making wine.”