The Auswine Forum

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A lot of the brands turn to putty, but al lot of them thrive under corporate ownerships, with the capital required to go to the next level.

Yes it can be sad when a small family owned winery is gobbled up by a major corporate, but at the end of the day wineries are businesses. They need to make money. If someone comes along a makes the owners a fair offer then they will sell.

I suppose the one that sticks most in the mind was Peter Lehmann sticking his neck out to rebuff Allied-Domecq's supposedly better offer, and instead advise his board to sell to the Hess Group instead. I hadn't realised that a few years later, it was sold onto Casella wines, which goes to show that once sold, there's no protection, though I guess he would have rather it end up in a family business than a large multinational. I'm sure when a winery bears your name, you care about what happens to it.

Do you think the grapes for these are from the Five Oaks vineyard?

Cheers Con.

Con. I’d say your wine is certainly from the original Oakridge vineyard in Seville, later called Five Oaks. From memory, the move to the current Maroondah Highway site in Coldstream happened some time in the early to mid 1990’s and as it was a greenfield site to start with I suspect the first Cab off the new vineyard was not until the later 1990’s.

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Whatever they are, they look in fantastic condition Con.