(Wine-Searcher) - The sale of the Benziger brand to the makers of Franzia could give impetus to biodynamic wines.

Ten years ago I went to one of the first biodynamic wine tastings in San Francisco. The mainstream wine media mocked it as a bunch of loons who bury cow horns filled with manure, and spend hours stirring potions by hand.

There actually were some scruffy hippies in the room, with unusual tasting no-sulfite wines. But Mike Benziger was there, and a PR person I know from a different winery told me: "If you want to interview a grownup about biodynamics, talk to Mike." His wines were good, he was articulate and he was the face of the biodynamic movement.

The internet still has debates about the value of biodynamic philosophy. But the market has decided on a different kind of biodynamic value in a big way, as Benziger Family Winery – the leading proponent of biodynamic wine in the United States – sold earlier this month for an estimated $90 million.

Not only that, Benziger sold to The Wine Group, the country's third-largest wine company, known for its marketing and sales acumen, not its delicious wines or its commitment to the environment.

"Kroger and Whole Foods and the mainline retailers are most interested in sustainable products," says Fritz Lance, the Wine Group executive in charge of integrating Benziger into the company. "Even people like Walmart are asking if we have sustainable or organic products. If you have a pyramid of green and sustainable is the base, biodynamic is at the tippy top. It's important. Consumers are interested in it, and they're making retailers interested."

The Wine Group at first glance seemed like an unlikely buyer. Founded in 1981 by former executives from Coca-Cola's ill-fated wine venture, it makes Franzia – the world's largest wine brand – and many other cheap wines with marketing-driven labels like Cupcake and my personal favorite, Running With Scissors. It has previously bought brands that other companies established, notably Big House from Randall Grahm. Although it sells a few wines above the $20-mark from its Concannon Vineyard label, it has mostly specialized in bottom-of-the-shelf wines.

The Wine Group is not stupid. Sales for wines less than $9 are dropping in the US while sales of wine more than $20 are growing. They couldn't just start selling Cupcake Reserve Cabernet; they needed a brand. Benziger will become The Wine Group's flagship in the same way that Louis M. Martini Winery and MacMurray Ranch did for Gallo and Robert Mondavi Winery did for Constellation.

Part of the appeal of Benziger is the Sonoma County location. The Wine Group did not previously have any properties either there or in Napa County.

"The consumer is interested in appellation," says Lance. "If we want to get the consumer interested, we have to be in Napa and Sonoma."

And part of the appeal was the specific company itself. For one thing, Benziger was for sale because Mike Benziger wanted out, but Joe Benziger will remain winemaker for the high-end Imagery Estate wines. Also, Lance said, surprisingly, the leaders of the two very different companies clicked.

"When you get us in the same room, we seem to have a lot in common," he said. "From outside maybe you wouldn't think that. Companies are people. They're very longterm thinkers. We've been a private enterprise managed longterm as well."

You can't divorce Benziger's image from biodynamics, and Lance says The Wine Group doesn't have any plans to. Instead, it's suddenly a major player in the "green wine" market.