The Auswine Forum

[url]https://www.therealreview.com/2019/01/28/unc ... on-winery/[/url]

The word around the Swan Valley is that winemaking will move to Nannup entirely, and the cellar door will close if a buyer is not found by May 2019.

Houghton's cellar door staff face an uncertain future. It's uncertain whether Houghton would set up another cellar door in a different location (assuming any new owner takes over the existing winery buildings, restaurant, cellar door and expansive vineyards). It's also uncertain whether Accolade would sell the assets separately (i.e. winery buildings, vineyards) and there's the added complexity of the heritage listing the buildings undoubtedly have.

There's a consequence of this for wine buyers, however. Houghton will possibly try to shift lots of stock through the mailing list and cellar door, and in fact have recently offered their Crofters chardonnay at 25% off through mailing list (and actually 50% off if you visited cellar door). It's possible that they will offer more wines on special in an attempt to reduce the amount of stock being held in the event of sale.

I have really liked their White Classic Museum release in the past. Havent seen it
for a while though.

Their Jack Mann though............... wow what a wine!
Would be a shame if that gets lost to corporate history....... or bastardised through discount/clearance
and poor quality /cheap fruit (i really hope not).

Rossco wrote:I have really liked their White Classic Museum release in the past. Havent seen it
for a while though.

Their Jack Mann though............... wow what a wine!
Would be a shame if that gets lost to corporate history....... or bastardised through discount/clearance
and poor quality /cheap fruit (i really hope not).

Rossco, believe that that has happened already...other forums that I am on have been critical of some of the recent vintages of JM in terms of extreme bottle variation. There has been a lot of this wine sold already by e-tailers at very sharp prices...expect this to continue...got an offer this morning for one of their cabernets

cheers craig

phillisc wrote: Rossco, believe that that has happened already...other forums that I am on have been critical of some of the recent vintages of JM in terms of extreme bottle variation. There has been a lot of this wine sold already by e-tailers at very sharp prices...expect this to continue...got an offer this morning for one of their cabernets

cheers craig

Thats really sad (but not unusual for a large corporate). Had a 1999 Jack Mann last year and it was one of my WOTY.

Looks like I will have to stock up on some back vintages sooner rather than later. Cheers for the heads up Craig!

Yes it would be very sad if a winery that held interest at the top and bottom of their range, finally succumbed to corporate mis-management. HWB/Classic was indeed a gem, one that helped me start exploring cellaring wines (without breaking the bank). Jack Mann indeed a star, somewhat under the radar.