The Auswine Forum

The historic Ryecroft winery in McLaren Vale has been given a lifeline after being shut down by Treasury Wine Estates.

The winery and an adjoining vineyard in McLaren Flat have been bought by Barossa-based Seppeltsfield Wines.

The company says it was attracted to the rich history of Ryecroft, which was established in 1888.

The purchase has been a long time coming.

TWE first announced the Ryecroft sale in November 2014, with the company saying the winery had been operating at half its capacity. It had been the production site for TWE’s prominent Rosemount brand, but operations were shifted to other wineries, with the 33 employees either redeployed or made redundant.

Seppeltsfield Wines, which has overseen the rejuvenation of the historic Barossa winery of the same name, said today the purchase was settled last Friday with details to remain confidential.

The winery, which has a production capacity of about 30,000 tonnes, will be put into immediate use by Seppeltsfield, with crushing to begin this week as part of the 2017 vintage.

In a statement, Seppeltsfield said Ryecroft would be used as an ancillary crush, fermentation and storage facility for the company’s broader vineyard holdings in South Australia.

“In addition to the winemaking infrastructure on Ingoldby Rd, McLaren Flat, the Ryecroft sale includes approximately 100 acres of adjoining vineyard and water licences,” the statement said.

“The addition of the Ryecroft plantings takes Seppeltsfield’s collective ownership of South Australian vineyard area to 5700 acres, including the largest (private or corporate) holding ever in both the Barossa and McLaren Vale regions.”

Seppeltsfield owner and executive chairman Warren Randall said the acquisition “super-charges” the company’s premium wine crush and fermentation capacity.

“Attached to the original 1888 A-grade winery is 21,000,000L of storage capacity, so we see this as a very supportive addition to Seppeltsfield’s winemaking asset base,” he said.

Randall, who has significant interests in McLaren Vale, said he saw the purchase as an opportunity for the company to continue acquiring historic SA wineries.

“There’s an untold rich history of Ryecroft – established in 1888 in McLaren Vale by Frederick Wilkinson, 33 original wax-lined concrete fermenters are still in place and can be used for ultra-premium winemaking,” he said.

InDaily wine writer Philip White wrote about Ryecroft and the significance of its closure in 2014, describing it as a kick in the teeth for the region.

Source: http://indaily.com.au/news/2017/04/05/historic-mclaren-vale-winery-bought-by-seppeltsfield/

Interesting.
There is a sneaky hope that Seppeltsfield are a lot smarter than the big boys, buy historic properties at a low price and are able to show the big boys how they can be run for a tidy profit whilst staying true to the history and using it (honestly) to their advantage.

Welcome news if, as Ian suggests, Seppeltsfield does justice to the winery and it's history by launching the Ryecroft brand.

Mahmoud.

Ian S wrote:Interesting.
There is a sneaky hope that Seppeltsfield are a lot smarter than the big boys, buy historic properties at a low price and are able to show the big boys how they can be run for a tidy profit whilst staying true to the history and using it (honestly) to their advantage.

Seppeltsfield's tidy profits came from the current owners doing what everyone feared Fosters would do before they sold it (and were publicly pressured not to) - quietly selling off a good chunk of the precious/irreplaceable old stocks to the highest bidder (as soon as custodian James Godfrey was not around anymore to protect it). Anytime you see a 50-70 year old tawny magically appear for sale at a winery who clearly has not been around long enough to have remotely near the time and experience to have made it, you know where it has come from...

Needless to say, I am clearly on the fence as to whether the people who run Seppeltsfield will be the saviours portrayed in this article - all that said, it will be interesting to see what they do with the old Ryecroft facilities and vineyard which were effectively mothballed. Nothing is mentioned specifically about the Rycroft brand itself, so I suspect (like Seaview, Tolley, etc) it may have been retained by TWE to become another zombie label, sadly condemed to walk this earth with no soul.

My 2c,
Ian

Oh dear, very sad to hear. That they might have sold off old stock instead of utilizing it themselves is indicative of many things.

Mahmoud.

I remember fondly the old Rycroft wines particularly the Rycroft Traditional. A good solid Bordeaux style blend that was well priced. Rosemount carried on with it under the Show Reserve label but its style changed to its detriment. And a lot of staff were let go. The cellar door was tiny but very cosy with friendly helpful staff. I hope the new owners can utilise the winery capacity and hire more local staff.

Carl

update in the Media today:

Seppeltsfield 'mark II' promised for McLaren Vale

Quote: The wine industry veteran who resurrected the historic Seppeltsfield winery in the Barossa and turned it into a food, wine and tourism drawcard intends to do something similar in McLaren Vale with a historic winery built in the same year.

Quote: In fact, he intends to resurrect the Ryecroft brand for some of the wine to be produced here. It’s a label he believes hasn’t been used for the best part of two decades.

http://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-explore/2017/04/12/seppeltsfield-mark-ii-promised-for-mclaren-vale/

Matt@5453 wrote:update in the Media today:

Seppeltsfield 'mark II' promised for McLaren Vale

Quote: The wine industry veteran who resurrected the historic Seppeltsfield winery in the Barossa and turned it into a food, wine and tourism drawcard intends to do something similar in McLaren Vale with a historic winery built in the same year.

Quote: In fact, he intends to resurrect the Ryecroft brand for some of the wine to be produced here. It’s a label he believes hasn’t been used for the best part of two decades.

http://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-explore/2017/04/12/seppeltsfield-mark-ii-promised-for-mclaren-vale/

Good to hear they managed to secure the name, that at least gives them a better shot at relaunching the winery successfully.

It's a pity Constellation/Accolade did not have the decency to do the same when they sold the Leasingham winery to Tim Adams. For some reason they seems determined to continue flogging the ghost of the dead horse they killed.