Endeavour Drinks has acquired leading McLaren Vale winery Chapel Hill and launched a new premium wine division, called Paragon Wine Estates.
The division which will house Endeavour Drinks’ existing portfolio of premium and regional wine brands: Krondorf (Barossa Valley), Isabel Estate (Marlborough) and Riddoch (Coonawarra).
Managing Director of Endeavour Drinks, Steve Donohue (below) said: “This development is an important step in further enhancing our wine business ahead of the proposed transition of Endeavour Drinks to a stand-alone business after the planned merger with ALH in 2020.
“Welcoming Chapel Hill to the group has inspired the creation of Paragon Wine Estates and is an exciting new element of our diverse Pinnacle Drinks business.
“These great wine producers deserve special attention. Each one has a rich history and unique traditions which form the basis of their wonderful stories. We hope to share those stories with wine lovers the world over.”
Chapel Hill, in the northern, more elevated sector of McLaren Vale, was acquired from the privately-held Swiss corporation Permafix.
The purchase includes the famous Chapel Hill cellar door, which incorporates an ironstone chapel built in 1865, together with associated buildings and 40 hectares under vine.
Longtime Chapel Hill Chief Winemaker and CEO Michael Fragos (above) said: “Our team will remain with Chapel Hill and the winery’s important relationships with grape growers will also remain unchanged as a result of this acquisition.
“Over the past five years we have enjoyed a very close and successful working relationship with Endeavour Drinks. The team at Chapel Hill now enthusiastically look forward to working with the Endeavour team to continue to enhance the wonderful reputation and pedigree that Chapel Hill has garnered since it was established in 1971.”
"We have been selling a lot of Chapel Hill wine over the last five years – our customers love it – and it's a lovely complement to a portfolio of really important brands that we're privileged to have in our suite of brands," Donohue told The Australian Financial Review.
Donohue said the Chapel Hill acquisition and establishment of Paragon Wine Estates was an important step in enhancing its premium wine business before the proposed demerger of Woolworths' combined liquor, hotel and gaming operations in 2020.
"We have a large number of brands but arguably none have as rich a history and as great opportunities as the four we are putting into Paragon," Donohue said.
"We're able to demonstrate to the industry the seriousness of our commitment and the extent to which we intend to participate in the production side."
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