Producer Article
Petaluma
Last edited on 2/2/2022 by LindsayM
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The Accolade Wines-owned Petaluma winery at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills is closing and will be put on the market.
Production will be shifted to the company’s Tintara winery in McLaren Vale.
The Petaluma facility, which only opened five years ago, has produced the Petaluma and Croser brands.
The company’s Krondorf winery in the Barossa Valley will also shut with production shifted to the Tintara and St Hallett wineries.
“We recently conducted a thorough assessment of our wine footprint to understand the capacity to support the growth of our wine brands and to ensure that each site can run sustainably,” Accolade Wines chief executive Robert Foye says.
“In response to the increasing global demand for Petaluma and Croser, these brands have reached capacity at Woodside Estate and outgrown the site.
“Therefore, we have made the decision to sell this facility and transfer all winemaking of the Petaluma and Croser portfolio to the spiritual home of Accolade Wines and our state-of-the-art facility at Tintara.
“With a long history of Adelaide Hills winemaking, Tintara has a phenomenal barrel cellar, amazing winemakers and a sizeable site that can accommodate all fruit from the Petaluma and Croser vineyards and family of grower vineyards.
“It will enable us to produce even more quality Petaluma wine that people have come to know and love.”
Accolade is investigating new locations for the Petaluma cellar door.
“In the meantime, we will keep trading in the current location until the sale is completed,” Mr Foye says.
“We will retain our Adelaide Hills vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker.”
Mr Foye says they do not have enough white winegrapes that require processing in the Barossa to maximise the capability and size of the Krondorf winery.
“Therefore, we are selling this facility so that a potential buyer can more efficiently leverage the strong white wine making capabilities of this winery,” he says.
“Our Grant Burge white winegrapes will be processed at our Tintara and St Hallett wineries in vintage 2021 onwards.
“While we have made the decision to sell these sites, Petaluma, Croser and Grant Burge remain an important part of brand portfolio and we have decided to produce them elsewhere to support their ongoing and planned growth.
“All employees who are potentially impacted by these changes have been informed and we will continue to support them throughout this transition.
“We hope that the majority of our employees can be retained by us at one of our Accolade Wines sites or by the new owners.
“I would like to reiterate our commitment to South Australia and our footprint across five wineries, six cellar doors, two state of the art facilities and 584 employees. We will continue to invest in the region and have plans in place regarding the opportunities we see in South Australia in the future.”
The Petaluma facility opened by then-owner Lion in 2015 and cost $10 million.
Accolade Wines is owned by the American private equity company The Carlyle Group.
Petaluma Winery goes for $5m as boutique vineyards sell. Larry Schlesinger Reporter Nov 7, 2021 AFR
Accolade Wines has sold its Petaluma Winery in the Adelaide Hills to McLaren Vale-based bottling company Torresan Estate for almost $5 million, joining a rising number of sales among boutique vineyards.
Accolade, owned by US private equity firm The Carlyle Group, put Petaluma and its historic Krondorf winery and cellar door in the Barossa Valley up for sale in January. The company decided to shift the production of wines, including premium brands like Grant Burge and Rolf Binder, to its Hardys Tintara winery in McLaren Vale and its St Hallett facility at Tanunda in the Barossa.
Built in 2015 and set on 33 hectares at 254 Pfeiffer Road in Woodside, Petaluma is the largest winery in the Adelaide Hills with a 2000 tonne vintage capacity. Records show it was bought by Toressan Estate for $4.8 million.
The wine business, run by the grandchildren of winemakers Gino and Flora Torresan, has steadily expanded its McLaren Vale bottling facility. It added a third warehouse in 2019 after growing its customer base to more than 250 local winemakers.
Toressan Estate will continue to bottle and mature Accolade’s Croser and House of Arras brands at the Petaluma winery, while increasing its capacity to bottle wines for other customers.
“We see a real future for the Woodside site in contract packaging of sparkling wines,” said Torresan family spokesman, Andrew Torresan.
Accolade Wines CEO Robert Foye said the winemaker would operate the Petaluma cellar door from its current location with Torresan Estate.
”We will retain our Adelaide Hills vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker,” he said.
The sale of the Petaluma Winery was brokered by Langley & Co, headed by managing director Toby Langley.
Langley & Co is also selling the Krondorf Winery, which is listed as “under offer”.
Alongside the two Accolade offerings, Langley & Co has sold four boutique vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and WA in the past few months – all to local buyers.
While Mr Langley said these sales were a culmination of months of hard work rather than a rush to buy, lockdowns and China tariffs had not massively subdued the market for vineyards or affected valuations in any major way.
“The reality is that good vineyards that are well managed will inevitably attract buyers with a mid to long-term vision,” he said.
The Accolade Wines-owned Petaluma winery at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills is closing and will be put on the market.
Production will be shifted to the company’s Tintara winery in McLaren Vale.
The Petaluma facility, which only opened five years ago, has produced the Petaluma and Croser brands.
The company’s Krondorf winery in the Barossa Valley will also shut with production shifted to the Tintara and St Hallett wineries.
“We recently conducted a thorough assessment of our wine footprint to understand the capacity to support the growth of our wine brands and to ensure that each site can run sustainably,” Accolade Wines chief executive Robert Foye says.
“In response to the increasing global demand for Petaluma and Croser, these brands have reached capacity at Woodside Estate and outgrown the site.
“Therefore, we have made the decision to sell this facility and transfer all winemaking of the Petaluma and Croser portfolio to the spiritual home of Accolade Wines and our state-of-the-art facility at Tintara.
“With a long history of Adelaide Hills winemaking, Tintara has a phenomenal barrel cellar, amazing winemakers and a sizeable site that can accommodate all fruit from the Petaluma and Croser vineyards and family of grower vineyards.
“It will enable us to produce even more quality Petaluma wine that people have come to know and love.”
Accolade is investigating new locations for the Petaluma cellar door.
“In the meantime, we will keep trading in the current location until the sale is completed,” Mr Foye says.
“We will retain our Adelaide Hills vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker.”
Mr Foye says they do not have enough white winegrapes that require processing in the Barossa to maximise the capability and size of the Krondorf winery.
“Therefore, we are selling this facility so that a potential buyer can more efficiently leverage the strong white wine making capabilities of this winery,” he says.
“Our Grant Burge white winegrapes will be processed at our Tintara and St Hallett wineries in vintage 2021 onwards.
“While we have made the decision to sell these sites, Petaluma, Croser and Grant Burge remain an important part of brand portfolio and we have decided to produce them elsewhere to support their ongoing and planned growth.
“All employees who are potentially impacted by these changes have been informed and we will continue to support them throughout this transition.
“We hope that the majority of our employees can be retained by us at one of our Accolade Wines sites or by the new owners.
“I would like to reiterate our commitment to South Australia and our footprint across five wineries, six cellar doors, two state of the art facilities and 584 employees. We will continue to invest in the region and have plans in place regarding the opportunities we see in South Australia in the future.”
The Petaluma facility opened by then-owner Lion in 2015 and cost $10 million.
Accolade Wines is owned by the American private equity company The Carlyle Group.
Petaluma Winery goes for $5m as boutique vineyards sell. Larry Schlesinger Reporter Nov 7, 2021 AFR
Accolade Wines has sold its Petaluma Winery in the Adelaide Hills to McLaren Vale-based bottling company Torresan Estate for almost $5 million, joining a rising number of sales among boutique vineyards.
Accolade, owned by US private equity firm The Carlyle Group, put Petaluma and its historic Krondorf winery and cellar door in the Barossa Valley up for sale in January. The company decided to shift the production of wines, including premium brands like Grant Burge and Rolf Binder, to its Hardys Tintara winery in McLaren Vale and its St Hallett facility at Tanunda in the Barossa.
Built in 2015 and set on 33 hectares at 254 Pfeiffer Road in Woodside, Petaluma is the largest winery in the Adelaide Hills with a 2000 tonne vintage capacity. Records show it was bought by Toressan Estate for $4.8 million.
The wine business, run by the grandchildren of winemakers Gino and Flora Torresan, has steadily expanded its McLaren Vale bottling facility. It added a third warehouse in 2019 after growing its customer base to more than 250 local winemakers.
Toressan Estate will continue to bottle and mature Accolade’s Croser and House of Arras brands at the Petaluma winery, while increasing its capacity to bottle wines for other customers.
“We see a real future for the Woodside site in contract packaging of sparkling wines,” said Torresan family spokesman, Andrew Torresan.
Accolade Wines CEO Robert Foye said the winemaker would operate the Petaluma cellar door from its current location with Torresan Estate.
”We will retain our Adelaide Hills vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker,” he said.
The sale of the Petaluma Winery was brokered by Langley & Co, headed by managing director Toby Langley.
Langley & Co is also selling the Krondorf Winery, which is listed as “under offer”.
Alongside the two Accolade offerings, Langley & Co has sold four boutique vineyards in South Australia, Victoria and WA in the past few months – all to local buyers.
While Mr Langley said these sales were a culmination of months of hard work rather than a rush to buy, lockdowns and China tariffs had not massively subdued the market for vineyards or affected valuations in any major way.
“The reality is that good vineyards that are well managed will inevitably attract buyers with a mid to long-term vision,” he said.