(NVR) - The owners of one of Napa Valley’s icons, Far Niente Winery, are selling a majority ownership to GI Partners, the San Francisco investment company that cut a similar deal for Duckhorn Vineyards for a reported $250 million in 2007.

The principals wouldn’t disclose the price paid for Far Niente.

The investment includes the Far Niente winery, as well as Nickel & Nickel, Dolce, EnRoute and Bella Union.

Longtime winery owners Beth Nickel, Erik Nickel, director of winemaking and CEO Dirk Hampson and president Larry Maguire will remain minority shareholders.

GI took over management of Duckhorn and has greatly expanded production of Duckhorn and its other wines, including hot Decoy wines. But Far Niente President Larry Maguire said that its senior sales, marketing and production employees will remain in place.

Far Niente was reborn in 1979, when Oklahoma wholesale nursery owner Gil Nickel and his wife, Beth, bought the winery, which was built in 1885 and abandoned at the start of Prohibition in 1919. They soon started making luxury cabernet and chardonnay wines.

They also bought the adjacent Stelling Vineyard and developed the first man-made wine cave in North America in the 20th century.

The company later launched Dolce, the only North American wine company devoted to a single-late harvest Napa Valley wine in 1989 and Nickel & Nickel, focused on single-vineyard, 100-percent varietal Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon in 1997.

Gil Nickel died of melanoma in 2003, but his widow and son Erik remained owners and executives. Another son, Jeremy, who was not involved in the winery management but owned one-third of its stock, sued board members other than his mother over their compensation. That suit was settled in 2011.

Mary Grace, spokesperson for the winery, said that Jeremy Nickel will no longer be an owner once the deal is closed, likely in June.

The Nickels and Far Niente created EnRoute in the Russian River Valley to produce pinot noir and chardonnay in 2007 and Bella Union, devoted to Napa Valley cabernet in Rutherford, with the 2012.

These wineries, plus its vineyard management arm Vinescape, comprise Far Niente Wine Estates.

Maguire said that all of the wineries’ long-held relationships, including those with growers, distributors and accounts, will continue.

David Mace, managing director of GI Partners, added, “We are proud to align ourselves with the Far Niente team, and we share their vision and long term goals to continue as an independent fine wine company. Our investment supports the focus on ongoing consistent production of high-quality wines as well as the team’s continued dedication to the business they have successfully nurtured for decades.”