By NOEL MURPHY
THE wine sector’s prestigious Casama group is understood to have bought the troubled signature winery Scotchman’s Hill, sold by administrators PwC earlier this month.
The Scotchman’s Hill group, owner of the Drysdale winery, went into voluntary administration last August. It posted a $12,000 loss for 2013 despite an annual turnover of some $15 million across 10 brands.
Earlier reports suggested 30 jobs would be made redundant at Scotchmans Hill as the new owner took over the business.
Workers given notice told media that fresh staff would be hired on a contract basis.
The sale incorporated the Scotchmans Hill winery and vineyard, wine-processing facilities, cellar door, inventory and the famous brands.
Scotchmans Hill, started in 1982, grew to one of the largest and best wine producers in the region. An award-winning business, it produced around 160,000 cases of wine across a dozen different labels. The winery and cellar door were advertised as enjoying “stunning views over Port Phillip Bay to Melbourne”.
The property boasted 49 hectares of vines as well as other land “magnificently positioned on the Bellarine Peninsula”.
The land, on four titles, includes three residences. The sale did not include The Hill winery (formerly known as Pettavel) near Waurn Ponds, although there remains “a leasehold interest”.
Casama did not return calls placed by the Independent.
The group is an Australian privately-owned family company and is the parent company of a collection of successful, independent trading entities.
It has been involved wine industry brands including Shaw and Smith, Cloudy Bay, and Riedel from inception and responsible for the creation and sales and marketing of some of Australia’s most successful volume brands, such as Four Sisters and Preece.
Casama maintains interests in grape growing, wine production, wine wholesale distribution, warehousing and logistics, wine exporting and importing, retailing and glassware importing and wholesale distribution.
PwC also did not respond to calls by the Independent before going to print.
