Duckhorn Portfolio (NAPA) Risk Analysis

The tax laws applicable to our business activities are subject to change and uncertain interpretation. Our tax position could be adversely impacted by changes in tax rates, tax laws, tax practice, tax treaties or tax regulations or changes in the interpretation thereof by the tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we do business. Changes to tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect us. Future changes in U.S. tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations. Our actual tax rate may vary from our expectation and that variance may be material. A number of factors may increase our future effective tax rates, including: (1) the jurisdictions in which profits are determined to be earned and taxed; (2) the resolution of issues arising from any future tax audits with various tax authorities; (3) changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities; (4) our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income and any adjustments to the amount of the net operating loss carryforwards we can utilize, and (5) changes in tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws, and changes in U.S. GAAP.

We collect, use, store, disclose, transfer and protect (collectively, "process") personal information, including from employees, customers and potential customers, in connection with the operation of our business. A wide variety of federal, state, local and international laws as well as regulations and industry guidelines apply to the processing of personal information and may vary between jurisdictions or conflict with other rules. Data protection and privacy laws and regulations are evolving, subject to differing interpretations and being tested in courts and may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. A variety of data protection legislation apply in the U.S. at both the federal and state level, including new laws that may impact our operations. For example, in June 2018, the State of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 ("CCPA"). The CCPA defines "personal information" in a broad manner and generally requires companies that collect, use, share and otherwise process personal information of California residents to make disclosures about their data collection, use, and sharing practices, allows consumers to opt-out of certain data sharing with third parties for purposes of cross-contextual advertising or the sale of personal information, allows consumers to exercise certain rights with respect to any personal information collected and provides a new cause of action for data breaches. Failure to comply with the CCPA could result in and provides for penalties for noncompliance of up to $7,500 per violation. Additional states have either passed or are considering data protection laws with similarly broad requirements. Other states, including Virginia, Connecticut, and Colorado, have adopted privacy laws with similarly significant requirements. However, these regulations will only apply to us in the event that we process the personal information of more than 100,000 residents of those states in a given year. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission, and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. The burdens imposed by the CCPA and other similar laws that have been or may be enacted at the federal and state level may require us to modify our data collection and processing practices and related policies and to incur substantial expenditures in order to comply with the additional laws. Global privacy and data protection legislation, enforcement, and policy activity are rapidly expanding and evolving, and may be inconsistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For example, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR"), which became effective in May 2018, imposes a broad array of requirements for processing personal data, including elevated disclosure requirements regarding collection and use of such data, requirements that companies allow individuals to obtain copies or demand deletion of personal data held by those companies, limitations on retention of information, and public disclosure of significant data breaches, among other things. The GDPR provides for substantial penalties for non-compliance of up to the greater of €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue for the preceding financial year. From January 1, 2021, the GDPR has been retained in the United Kingdom ("U.K."), as it forms part of the law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended by the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/419) ("U.K. GDPR"), alongside the U.K.'s Data Protection Act 2018. Although we do not currently operate in Europe, should our operations expand there or if we are deemed to target our services to individuals in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we could be required to comply with the GDPR and U.K. GDPR, which could expose us to significant compliance costs and potential penalties in the event of any actual or alleged violation. Compliance with these and any other applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms ensuring compliance with the new privacy and data protection laws and regulations. Our actual or alleged failure to comply with any applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations, industry standards or contractual obligations, or to protect such information and data that we process, could result in litigation, regulatory investigations, and enforcement actions against us, including fines, orders, public censure, claims for damages by employees, customers and other affected individuals, public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups, damage to our reputation and competitive position and loss of goodwill (both in relation to existing customers and prospective customers) any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Evolving and changing definitions of personal information, personal data, and similar concepts within the European Union, U.K., the U.S. and elsewhere, especially relating to classification of IP addresses, device identifiers, location data, household data and other information we may collect, may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business, including limiting strategic partnerships that may involve the sharing of such information and data. Additionally, if third parties that we work with, such as vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or our policies, such violations may also place personal information at risk and have an adverse effect on our business. Even the perception of privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may harm our reputation, subject us to regulatory scrutiny and investigations, and inhibit adoption of our wines by existing and potential customers.

Maintaining and expanding our reputation as a premier producer of luxury wine among our customers and the luxury wine market generally is critical to the success of our business and our growth strategy. The luxury wine market is driven by a relatively small number of active and well-regarded wine critics within the industry who have outsized influence over the perceived quality and value of wines. We have consistently produced critically acclaimed, award-winning wines across multiple winery brands in our portfolio. However, if we are unable to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines, including as a result of contamination or tampering, environmental or other factors impacting the quality of our grapes or other raw materials, or if our wines otherwise do not meet the subjective expectations or tastes of one or more of a relatively small number of wine critics, the actual or perceived quality and value of one or more of our wines could be harmed, which could negatively impact not only the value of that wine, but also the value of the vintage, the particular brand or our broader portfolio. The winemaking process is a long and labor-intensive process that is built around yearly vintages, which means that once a vintage has been released, we are not able to make further adjustments to satisfy wine critics or consumers. As a result, we are dependent on our winemakers and tasting panels to ensure that every wine we release meets our exacting quality standards. With the use of social media, word within the luxury wine market spreads quickly, which can accentuate both the positive and the negative reviews of our wines and of wine vintages generally. Public perception of our winery brands could be negatively affected by adverse publicity or negative commentary on social media outlets, particularly negative commentary on social media outlets that goes "viral," or our responses relating to, among other things: - an actual or perceived failure to maintain high-quality, safety, ethical, social and environmental standards for all of our operations and activities;- an actual or perceived failure to address concerns relating to the quality, safety or integrity of our wines and the hospitality we offer to our guests at our tasting rooms;- our environmental impact, including our use of agricultural materials, packaging, water and energy use, and waste management; or - an actual or perceived failure by us to promote the responsible consumption of alcohol. If we do not produce wines that are well-regarded by the relatively small wine critic community, the luxury wine market will quickly become aware and our reputation, winery brands, business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, if certain vintages receive negative publicity or consumer reaction, whether as a result of our wines or wines of other producers, our wines in the same vintage could be adversely affected. Unfavorable publicity, whether accurate or not, related to our industry, us, our winery brands, marketing, personnel, operations, business performance or prospects could also unfavorably affect our corporate reputation, stock price, ability to attract high-quality talent or the performance of our business. Any contamination or other quality control issue could have an adverse effect on sales of the impacted wine or our broader portfolio of winery brands. If any of our wines become unsafe or unfit for consumption, cause injury or are otherwise improperly packaged or labeled, we may have to engage in a product recall and/or be subject to liability and incur additional costs. A widespread recall, multiple recalls or a significant product liability judgment against us could cause our wines to be unavailable for a period of time, depressing demand and our brand equity. Even if a product liability claim is unsuccessful or is not fully pursued, any resulting negative publicity could adversely affect our reputation with existing and potential customers and accounts, as well as our corporate and individual winery brand images in such a way that current and future sales could be diminished. In addition, should a competitor experience a recall or contamination event, we could face decreased consumer confidence by association as a producer of similar products. Although we carry insurance to protect against certain potential errors in the production process, such insurance is subject to deductibles and may not be sufficient to compensate for the value of losses incurred in connection with product liability claims or recalls. Additionally, third parties may sell wines or inferior brands that imitate our winery brands or that are counterfeit versions of our labels, and customers could be duped into thinking that these imitation labels are our authentic wines. For example, from time to time we have been notified of instances of potential counterfeiting related to a small amount of wine in foreign jurisdictions. Third parties, including third parties who acquire our wine and resell it on the secondary market, may also fail to properly store our wines in advance of offering them for sale, possibly resulting in a product that would not meet our high-quality standard. A negative consumer experience with such a wine could cause them to refrain from purchasing our winery brands in the future and damage our brand integrity. Any failure to maintain the actual or perceived quality of our wines could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Damage to our reputation or loss of consumer confidence in our wines for any of these or other reasons could result in decreased demand for our wines and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as require additional resources to rebuild our reputation, competitive position and winery brand strength.

While our current supply, processing and manufacturing capabilities are sufficient to meet our present business needs, we may need to expand these capabilities in the future as we continue to grow and scale our business. There is risk in our ability to effectively scale and optimize production and processing and effectively manage our supply chain requirements. We must accurately forecast demand for our products to ensure we have sufficient processing and manufacturing capacity to effectively meet consumer demand. Conversely, if we overestimate our demand or overbuild our capacity, we may have significantly underutilized supply or other assets and may experience reduced margins. If we do not accurately align our processing and manufacturing capabilities with demand, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected. We may occasionally acquire or build new wine production or tasting rooms to meet business needs. If the design, permitting, or building process do not go as planned, if acquired facilities are not brought up to full processing or use capacity, or if we are unable to hire, train and retain employees to support additional production facilities or tasting rooms, we may not be able to fully realize the potential benefits of such additional facilities and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our workforce is a significant contributor to the success of our business. If we face labor shortages, increased labor costs due to increased competition for employees and higher employee turnover rates, increases in the federal, state, or local minimum wage, or other employee benefits costs, our operating expenses could increase and our growth, results of operations, and financial condition could be negatively impacted. Wage growth, as a result of labor shortages or otherwise, may also lead to higher costs to purchase the services of third parties and reduce our results of operations. We are highly dependent on the contributions of our senior management team, sales team, and other key employees, such as our winemakers, and certain employees at our corporate headquarters, wineries, tasting rooms and vineyards. Our ability to deliver on strategic targets is dependent on our ability to recruit, retain and motivate key employees. Attracting and retaining such employees can be competitive in the locations in which our facilities are located, and the inability to attract and retain qualified employees may impact our ability to achieve our targets. We believe that the background and experience of our management team has been a major factor in our success and growth. The loss of current key employees could result in the loss of business knowledge, negatively impact relationships with suppliers, distributors or customers or hurt Company culture and morale, and ultimately, our operating efficiency and financial condition.

We are subject to risks associated with adverse economic conditions in the U.S. and globally, including economic slowdown or recession, pandemic risk, inflation, and the disruption, volatility and tightening of credit and capital markets. Since our operations and our customers are mainly in the U.S., we are particularly susceptible to consumer trends, market fluctuations, adverse regulations, the economic climate and other adverse events in the U.S. Recent events, including military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, inflationary conditions and high interest rates, have caused disruptions in the U.S. and global economy, and uncertainty regarding general economic conditions, including concerns about a potential U.S. or global recession, may lead to decreased consumer spending on discretionary items, including wine. In general, positive conditions in the broader economy promote customer spending on wine, while economic weakness, which generally results in a reduction of customer spending, may have a more pronounced negative effect on spending on wine. Unemployment, tax increases, governmental spending cuts or a return of high levels of inflation could affect consumer spending patterns and purchases of our wines and other alcoholic beverage products. Reduced consumer discretionary spending and reduced consumer confidence could negatively affect the trend towards consuming luxury wines and could result in a reduction of wine and beverage alcohol consumption in the U.S. generally. In particular, extended periods of high unemployment, lower consumer discretionary spending and low consumer confidence could result in lower DTC sales than expected, lower wholesale sales of our ultra-luxury winery brands in favor of luxury winery brands which have a lower average sales price, and generally lower gross profit margins and lower overall sales, which could negatively impact our business and results of operations. These conditions could also create or worsen credit issues, cash flow issues, access to credit facilities and other financial hardships for us and our suppliers, distributors, accounts and consumers. Our inability, or an inability of our suppliers, distributors and retailers, to access liquidity could impact our ability to produce and distribute our wines.

Our wines are sold in numerous countries, and we source production materials from foreign countries, including barrels from France, glass bottles from Mexico and cork from Portugal. Risks associated with international operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations, include: - changes in local political, economic, social, and labor conditions;- potential disruption from socio-economic violence, including the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism and drug-related violence;- restrictions on foreign ownership and investments or on repatriation of cash earned in countries outside the U.S.;- import and export requirements and border accessibility;- currency exchange rate fluctuations;- a less developed and less certain legal and regulatory environment in some countries, which, among other things, can create uncertainty regarding contract enforcement, intellectual property rights, privacy obligations, real property rights and liability issues; and - inadequate levels of compliance with applicable anti-bribery laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Our wine aging programs often incorporate the use of French oak barrels. We contract with barrel cooperages in Europe for French oak wine barrels that meet our specifications. These contracts are paid in Euros once per year. We hedge our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations with respect to Euro-U.S. Dollar conversion rates by entering foreign currency forward contracts. We cannot perfectly hedge our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations, and such exposure could negatively impact our results of operations. Unfavorable global or regional economic conditions, including economic slowdown and the disruption, volatility and tightening of credit and capital markets, as well as unemployment, tax increases, governmental spending cuts, a return of high levels of inflation, or public perception that any of these adverse effects have occurred or may occur in the future, could affect consumer spending patterns and purchases of our wines. These could also create or exacerbate credit issues, cash flow issues and other financial hardships for us and our suppliers, distributors, retailers and consumers. The inability of suppliers, distributors and retailers to access liquidity could impact our ability to produce and distribute our wines. We are also exposed to risks associated with interest rate fluctuations. We could experience changes in our ability to manage fluctuations in interest rates and, accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in reducing those risks. We could also be affected by nationalization of our international operations, unstable governments, unfamiliar or biased legal systems, intergovernmental disputes or animus against the U.S. Any determination that our operations or activities did not comply with applicable U.S. or foreign laws or regulations could result in the imposition of fines and penalties, interruptions of business, terminations of necessary licenses and permits, and other legal and equitable sanctions. The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the escalating geopolitical tensions resulting from such conflict have resulted and may continue to result in sanctions, tariffs, and import-export restriction which, when combined with any retaliatory actions that have been and may be taken by Russia, could cause further inflationary pressures and economic supply chain disruptions. The U.S. and other countries in which we operate impose duties, excise taxes, and/or other taxes on beverage alcohol products, and/or on certain raw materials used to produce our beverage alcohol products, in varying amounts. The U.S. federal government or other governmental bodies may propose changes to international trade agreements, tariffs, taxes and other government rules and regulations. Significant increases in import and excise duties or other taxes on, or that impact, beverage alcohol products could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations. Any such tariffs, particularly on imports from Mexico and any retaliatory tariffs imposed by the Mexican government, may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, including our sales and profitability. In addition, federal, state, provincial, local and foreign governmental agencies extensively regulate the beverage alcohol products industry concerning such matters as licensing, warehousing, trade and pricing practices, permitted and required labeling, advertising and relations with wholesalers and retailers. Certain federal, state or local regulations also require warning labels and signage. New or revised regulations or increased licensing fees, requirements or taxes could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations. Additionally, various jurisdictions may seek to adopt significant additional product labeling or warning requirements or limitations on the marketing or sale of our wines because of what our wines contain or allegations that our wines cause adverse health effects. If these types of requirements become applicable to our wines under current or future environmental or health laws or regulations, they may inhibit sales of such products. These international, economic and political uncertainties and regulatory changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations, especially to the extent these matters, or the decisions, policies or economic strength of our suppliers and distributors, affect our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations.

Our future success depends significantly on our ability to protect our current and future winery brands and wines and to enforce and defend our trademarks and other intellectual property rights. We rely on a combination of trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to secure and protect our intellectual property rights. We have been granted 77 trademark registrations in the U.S. and numerous trademark registrations in other countries covering many of our winery and wine brands, and we have filed, and expect to continue to file, trademark applications seeking to protect newly-developed winery and wine brands. We cannot be sure that trademark registrations will be issued to us under any of our trademark applications. Our trademark applications could be opposed by third parties, and our trademark rights, including registered trademarks, could also be challenged. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in defending our trademarks in actions brought by third parties. There is also a risk that we could fail to timely maintain or renew our trademark registrations or otherwise protect our trademark rights, which could result in the loss of those trademark rights (including in connection with failure to maintain consistent use of these trademarks). If we fail to maintain our trademarks or our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our wineries, wines and other products, which could result in a loss of winery brand recognition and could require us to devote additional resources to the development and marketing of new winery brands. Notwithstanding any trademark registrations held by us, a third party could bring a lawsuit or other claim alleging that we have infringed that third party's trademark rights. Any such claims, with or without merit, could require significant resources to defend, could damage the reputation of our winery brands, could result in the payment of compensation (whether as a damages award or settlement) to such third parties, and could require us to stop using our winery brands' trademarks or otherwise agree to an undertaking to limit that use. In addition, our actions to monitor and enforce trademark rights against third parties may not prevent counterfeit products or products bearing confusingly similar trademarks from entering the marketplace, which could divert sales from us, tarnish our reputation or reduce the demand for our products or the prices at which those products are sold. Any enforcement litigation brought by us, whether or not successful, could require significant costs and resources, and divert the attention of management, which could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Third parties may also acquire and register domain names that are confusingly similar to or otherwise damaging to the reputation of our trademarks, and we may not be able to prevent or cancel any such domain name registrations.

We rely on IT systems, networks, and services, including internet sites, data hosting and processing facilities and tools, hardware (including laptops and mobile devices), software and technical applications and platforms, some of which are managed, hosted, provided and used by third-parties or their vendors, to assist us in the management of our business. The various uses of these IT systems, networks and services include, but are not limited to: hosting our internal network and communication systems; wine, grape and other inventory tracking; supply and demand planning; production; shipping wines to customers; hosting our winery websites and marketing products to consumers; collecting and storing customer, consumer, employee, stockholder, and other data; processing transactions; summarizing and reporting results of operations; hosting, processing and sharing confidential and proprietary research, business plans and financial information; complying with regulatory, legal or tax requirements; providing data security; and handling other processes necessary to manage our business. Increased IT security threats and more sophisticated cybercrimes and cyberattacks, including computer viruses and other malicious codes, ransomware, unauthorized access attempts, denial of service attacks, phishing, social engineering, hacking and other types of attacks pose a potential risk to the security of our IT systems, networks and services, as well as the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our data, and we have in the past, and may in the future, experience cyberattacks and other unauthorized access attempts to our IT systems. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access are constantly changing and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we or our vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement sufficient preventative or remedial measures. If we are unable to efficiently and effectively maintain and upgrade our system safeguards, we may incur unexpected costs and certain of our systems may become more vulnerable to unauthorized access. In the event of a ransomware or other cyber-attack, the integrity and safety of our data could be at risk or we may incur unforeseen costs impacting our financial condition. Although we carry insurance covering cyber-attacks, including ransomware, these coverages are subject to deductibles and self-insurance obligation, as well as caps on coverage that could be below the value of losses we could incur. If the IT systems, networks or service providers we rely upon fail to function properly, or if we suffer a loss or disclosure of business or other sensitive information due to any number of causes ranging from catastrophic events, power outages, security breaches, unauthorized use or usage errors by employees, vendors or other third parties and other security issues, we may be subject to legal claims and proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy and security of personal information (also known as personal data), litigation, governmental investigations and proceedings and regulatory penalties, and we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage our operations and reputational, competitive or business harm, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, such events could result in unauthorized disclosure of material confidential information, and we may suffer financial and reputational damage because of lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us or to our employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers, consumers or others. In any of these events, we could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to remedy the damage caused by a security breach or technological failure and the reputational damage resulting therefrom, to pay for investigations, forensic analyses, legal advice, public relations advice or other services, or to repair or replace networks and IT systems. A greater percentage of our employees are now working remotely some or all of the time, which may further increase our vulnerability to cybercrimes and cyberattacks and increase the stress on our technology infrastructure and systems. Although we maintain cyber risk insurance, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses from any future breaches or failures of our IT systems, networks and services.