Treasury Wine Estates has sold a second historic South Australian winery to Seppeltsfield Wines.
TWE has followed up the sale of McLaren Vale’s Ryecroft winery in April with Clare Valley’s Quelltaler Estate winery and vineyard assets.
The deal includes about 900 acres of proprietary vineyard and lease arrangements in Watervale and Polish Hill, plus the existing Quelltaler 1000 tonne winery.
“After 15 years of difficult times – a ‘double down’ – the Australian wine industry is on the rise again, mainly due to the emergence of China as a strong new market for Australian wine,” Seppeltsfield proprietor Warren Randall said.
“The acquisition of premium viticultural and winemaking assets at this time will support the Seppeltsfield group’s desire to increase its market share in an already rising market.”
While the original Quelltaler trademark is included in the deal, TWE will retain ownership of the Annie’s Lane brand, which was produced at Quelltaler Estate.
Previous owners of the estate, which dates back to 1851, have included H. Buring & Sobels, Remy Martin, Wolf Blass, which merged into Southcorp, Foster’s and TWE.
The cellar door site in Watervale will be closed for the time being while “strategic planning” continues for its future usage.
It’s been a busy year for Seppeltsfield, which also opened of a $75 million chateau in China in May.
