Seppelt great western closure

[kaos]

Has anyone read about this in the news? It is a dead set tragedy. I don't see how they can find a buyer for a facilty of that nature given it comes sans vineyards......

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-26/seppelts-winery-closure-treasury/6885558

[michel]

i know
huon had an article about it on saturday
selling the venue but no brand name
crazy

[swirler]

Seppeltsfield 2 without the field. Seppelts. No, can't do that. Seppeltscave?

[Waiters Friend]

SO, if there is no buyer, and a closure, what does TWE do with the facility? The equipment could conceivably be sold (at a loss), but there's the underground drives. Business opportunity for a mushroom farmer perhaps? An absolute crying shame - I am a big supporter and buyer of Seppelts Great Western wines. Just this minute bought another dozen of the Original Sparkling Shiraz 2012 on the basis of this news.

Jaluka Chardonnay, Drumborg wines, Chalambar Shiraz, and St Peters especially - will the same people make them the same way? Are we going to see a significant shift in these wines? I sincerely hope not - these are staples for me.

Enough tears for now

[GraemeG]

This notion that you can flog off all the physical assets because the value is in the brand name must be some fashionable dogma being flogged at marketing school.
There may be some wine brands where this has worked, but there's a long list - Tollana, Seaview, Leasingham, Lindemans, Rouge Homme - probably a heap of others, where it's a straight disaster.

If you don't want the Grampians site, fine. Have the cojones to sell the lot, Seppelt name included.
Dolts.
GG

[swirler]

Graeme, I think it's cold, hard, short term profits that drive these decisions. By the time the brand has lost its credibility, the instigator of the decision has long since departed.

Hopefully they enjoy their large homes and business class travel.

[rens]

This notion that you can flog off all the physical assets because the value is in the brand name must be some fashionable dogma being flogged at marketing school.
There may be some wine brands where this has worked, but there's a long list - Tollana, Seaview, Leasingham, Lindemans, Rouge Homme - probably a heap of others, where it's a straight disaster.

If you don't want the Grampians site, fine. Have the cojones to sell the lot, Seppelt name included.
Dolts.
GG

And this they don't understand. Wine is more than a label on a bottle filled with fermented grape juice. It is about the history and above all the place. If you think of great wines they all come from great places.

[ticklenow1]

Graeme, I think it's cold, hard, short term profits that drive these decisions. By the time the brand has lost its credibility, the instigator of the decision has long since departed.

Hopefully they enjoy their large homes and business class travel.

Never a truer word spoken. The curse of the modern day CEO.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Seppelt name and brand. They have been producing some amazing wines the last 10 years or so and it would be a massive shame if the quality (and the name) was to disappear.

Cheers
Ian

[Redwine&Rum]

Yep. Love their Mt Ida (big Heathcote wine fan) and St Peters. Lovely wines.

[sjw_11]

Seppeltsfield 2 without the field. Seppelts. No, can't do that. Seppeltscave?

Seppelts-without-field?


(akin to the old English way of naming certain things e.g. St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate .. indicating the church was outside the city walls at Bishopsgate)

Seriously though, the prospect that Seppelt's Great Western might just be moth balled and the machinery sold is a flipping disgrace.

[daver6]

My understanding of the situation is the same wines will still continue to be produced, just not at the cellar door.

[GraemeG]

My understanding of the situation is the same wines will still continue to be produced, just not at the cellar door.

Well, yes, they'll be 'the same wines', if you accept that nothing of the wines' character derives from the winery where they're made.

And as the original article implies that only the winery & equipment (presumably) is for sale, who's gonna want to buy that?
A 5000-tonne winery in the middle of the Grampians, without its associated vineyards.

That'll be useful! Best of luck selling that, fellas.
GG

[Ian S]

My understanding of the situation is the same wines will still continue to be produced, just not at the cellar door.

They have a term used on bottled & draught beer here called 'brewed under licence', meaning brewing is outsourced from it's home city, to a UK beer-making factory. It might as well say 'brewed the same as the other crap we make here, so tastes nothing like the original and you'd be insane to drink this'.

[Michael McNally]

Graeme, I think it's cold, hard, short term profits that drive these decisions. By the time the brand has lost its credibility, the instigator of the decision has long since departed.

Hopefully they enjoy their large homes and business class travel.

'
I once asked a colleague about management at a particular University who were trying to dud some cleaners they had outsourced from half their redundancy entitlements (while themselves pocketing enormous salary increases):

"How do these (expletive) people people sleep at night?"

His reply:

"Soundly, and in very expensive and comfortable beds."

Sigh.

Michael

[sjw_11]

There is a classic Simpson's line for that:

Rainer Wolfcastle: [Cut back to Rainer and Jay] The film is just me in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half. It cost $80 million.

Jay Sherman: [contemptuous] How do you sleep at night?

Rainer Wolfcastle: On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies.

[sparky]

This notion that you can flog off all the physical assets because the value is in the brand name must be some fashionable dogma being flogged at marketing school.
There may be some wine brands where this has worked, but there's a long list - Tollana, Seaview, Leasingham, Lindemans, Rouge Homme - probably a heap of others, where it's a straight disaster.

If you don't want the Grampians site, fine. Have the cojones to sell the lot, Seppelt name included.
Dolts.
GG

Notice anything?

[Ian S]

Yes Moira
That was the one where I felt the reputation had held up much better than the others.
I could add Rosemount in though
regards
Ian

[Sean]

deleted

[via collins]

Notice anything?

Er, it coincided with your departure?

[adrianb]

Care for the vineyards and terroir. Forget the brand.

[sparky]

Notice anything?

Er, it coincided with your departure?

Not quite where I was going with it but I have to say I'm quite happy to be out on my bike knocking out the training for the Wine Peloton Tour of Tassie and not discussing that decision

[via collins]

I'm quite happy to be out on my bike knocking out the training for the Wine Peloton Tour of Tassie and not discussing that decision

absolument! Focus on that cadence, watch for falling apples.

[porschemad911]

Very sad news, I am a big St. Peters and Chalambar fan. The beer industry is the same, but I have been producing my own for about 18 months now. I can't do that with wine, so increasingly I try to buy local and small.

[Rossco]

This is really sad news. Not just for the people of great western, but for the winery its self. All their hard work and dedication, to produce, what i think are the best wines in sepplets past 20 years (possibly in their history?) across all their ranges. I am gobsmacked how good their wines are lately. They have really raised their profile from just a run of the mill brand to one of victorias best.
And to be rewarded like this, just breaks my heart.

In a toast and with a deep sense of sadness, i cracked a bottle of the 2013 jaluka chardonnay. Imo at the price point, victorias (and probably australias) best chardonnay for the 2013 vintage.

Lets just hope someone like bests or mt langi pick up the vineyards, staff and facilities and keep the tradition going.

[Ozzie W]

Lets just hope someone like bests or mt langi pick up the vineyards, staff and facilities and keep the tradition going.

TWE are only selling the facilities. They're keeping the vineyards and the Seppelt brand. That's going to make it a very hard sell.

I got a phone call from Seppelts the other day trying to sign me up for the Custodians of Seppelt wine club. I had a discussion with they guy about the impact of the sale. He was trying to convince me that sending grapes from Great Western via truck to the Barossa wouldn't affect the quality of their wines .

[Barney]

Is very sad, have spent much time there over the years and The Great Western/St Peters is the only continuous flight of anything that I have in my cellar......going back to 1993 from memory.

Can understand the commercial realities though, must cost a fortune to maintain the facilities, can only hope that the legacy of the wine itself is maintained, only time will tell I suppose.

Not sure the facilities are all that useful without the vineyards so will interesting to see if it just languishes there, hard to see any practical alternatives uses for it

[Mark Carrington]

It's the general drift to the lowest common denominator that will eventually damage the Australian wine industry - cf Liebfraumilch. I wouldn't shed any tears over the demise of their sparkling Shiraz. Then again, the same could be said of any SS.

[marsalla]

Lets just hope someone like bests or mt langi pick up the vineyards, staff and facilities and keep the tradition going.

TWE are only selling the facilities. They're keeping the vineyards and the Seppelt brand. That's going to make it a very hard sell.

I got a phone call from Seppelts the other day trying to sign me up for the Custodians of Seppelt wine club. I had a discussion with they guy about the impact of the sale. He was trying to convince me that sending grapes from Great Western via truck to the Barossa wouldn't affect the quality of their wines .

I am impressed that the telesales kid was even aware of the closure.

[Sean]

deleted

[Cloth Ears]

I loved this spiel from the TWE website, last updated earlier this month: https://www.tweglobal.com/brands/seppelt