Top SA wine brand crushed into retirement
A renowned McLaren Vale cellar door with a 150-year-old chapel is being taken over by a high-profile SA retirement business from the owners of Dan Murphy’s.
A leading South Australian retirement living company has bought McLaren Vale-based Chapel Hill’s cellar door and vineyard as a leading national drinks giant restructures its business.
Torrens Living– an arm of one of SA’s top companies, Torrens Health – has bought the parcel of land from Endeavour Group including 40ha of vineyards and Chapel Hill’s 150-year-old ironstone chapel that was being used as a wine tasting room.
It will also take over the nearby chalet-style guest house with “sweeping views of the Onkaparinga Gorge and to the Gulf St Vincent” that is about a 10 minute drive to the central McLaren Vale township.
While the price paid for the land was undisclosed, InDaily understands the sale was above valuation and has sought more details about plans for the site from its new owner.
Torrens Living operates six retirement villages in metropolitan Adelaide, including at Aldinga Beach, Old Reynella and Everard Park.
While the company’s plans are not yet public, InDaily understands the vineyard would remain operational with former owner Endeavour Group – the company that owns Dan Murphy’s and BWS – to contract back growing the grapes on the site.
The grapes will be used to make wine at Barossa Valley-based Dorrien Estate, and Endeavour Group has kept viticulturist Rachel Steer on to manage the vines and grape quality.
Steer was previously assistant vineyard manager at Chapel Hill, working with then-winemaker Pam Dunsford, one of the most famous female winemakers in Australia.
Chapel Hill is revered for its flagship Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon, which have also won a series of Gold medals in prestigious international competitions.
Its first wines were made from grapes grown in paddocks surrounding the chapel in 1975, and a decade later it was exclusively owned by Adelaide’s well-known Gerard family, who employed award-winning winemaker Dunsford.
Endeavour announced the sale of Chapel Hill earlier this year as part of a larger business restructure that impacted numerous wine sites across SA.
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As part of that restructure, Endeavour also announced the sale of vineyards and cellar doors at Riddoch Coonawarra and Krondorf Barossa.
The company planned to slash its grape production by more than 80 per cent in a bid to reduce investments in its grape growing portfolio, it said in a statement.
The most recent chief winemaker at Chapel Hill was Michael Fragos, who worked at the label for 22 years.
He was out of a job when Endeavour Group decided to close the cellar door in June, but recently was named CEO and chief winemaker of McLaren Vale winery Haselgrove.
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