Prominent Barossa Valley winemaker Trevor Jones has pleaded guilty to two counts of property damage in 2015 to rival winery Kellermeister.
Jones, owner of Trevor Jones Fine Wines, admitted to deliberately destroying more than $60,000 worth of shiraz and chardonnay at Kellermeister’s Lyndoch winery.
According to police, the damage occurred when Trevor opened the taps of four storage tanks, destroying 25,000 litres of wine in total.
Jones, whose winery is also based at Lyndoch, was due to stand trial in Adelaide’s District Court today on five counts of damaging property.
But he instead pleaded guilty to two counts and the prosecution dropped the remaining three.
Defence counsel Mark Griffin said Jones had been undergoing treatment for mental health issues for some time and “they were at play in the commission of these offences”.
Griffen also added that has had an exemplary record, with no previous convictions and he planned to call a number of character witnesses to give evidence during sentencing submissions.
Jones will remain on bail ahead of sentencing submissions in October, and in the meantime his lawyer has told the court that he is in the process of making full restitution to the winery concerned.
Jones was a winemaker at Kellermeister when it was owned by his parents, Ralph and Val Jones. He left in 2010 to start Trevor Jones Fine Wines. Kellermeister was sold to its current owner, Mark Pearce, in 2012.
