Vasse Felix buys Watershed Wines to boost chardonnay production

Vasse Felix is in the process of purchasing Margaret River’s Watershed Premium Wines for about $20 million.

If the deal is approved by Watershed shareholders, it will take the total vineyard area owned by Vasse Felix to more than 300ha across four sites around the Margaret River wine region.

Chief executive Paul Holmes a Court told The West Australian the acquisition was an exciting opportunity to expand Vasse Felix's chardonnay production. The company will also remove some surplus varieties at Watershed in preparation for future chardonnay plantings. 

Watershed's 80ha vineyard will provide a short-term boost to Vasse Felix’s chardonnay production from 25,000 cases to about 35,000, while eventually supplying fruit to support projected export growth in the future.

Under the terms of the sale, Vasse Felix will immediately acquire the assets of Watershed, which include the vineyard, winery, cellar door and restaurant.

Watershed will continue to operate independently, selling its wine under its own label. It was established as a managed vineyard investment scheme in 1999 and produces trophy winning wines, most notably for cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and sauvignon blanc.

Managing director and co-owner Geoff Barrett said it had been a difficult and sad decision to sell.
“But at the end of the day we received an offer which we believed was fair and reasonable and as directors, we have to act in the best interests of the shareholders,” he said. 

Margaret River is famed for its chardonnay. Last year, Max Allen noted in the Australian Financial Review: "Chardonnay vines were first planted in Western Australia's Margaret River in the mid-1970s. To younger readers, this might seem like a long time ago, but in the context of wine's 8000-year history it's barely a blink.

"And yet the grape hit the ground running in this beautiful stretch of coastal country. The first vintage of Leeuwin Estate's Art Series chardonnay, the 1980, made from vines barely three years old, beat all other entries in an international chardonnay tasting held by Decanter magazine in the UK a couple of years later.

"It usually takes decades – centuries even – for such combinations of grape and place to establish themselves as classics."