Major changes for the Australian wine industry

It has been a week of big changes in the Australian wine industry with the families behind Wirra Wirra and Ashton Hills acquiring star Adelaide Hills producer Hahndorf Hill, and Australian Wine Holdco Limited - a group of international investors - announcing the creation of Vinarchy, a new global wine company.

Vinarchy combines Accolade Wines and its multiple brands with the Australian, New Zealand and Spanish wine businesses formerly owned by Pernod Ricard. The new business is one of the largest wine companies in the world.

As reported first by Wine Business Monthly, the acquisition of Austrian varietals specialist Hahndorf Hill adds depth to the Wirra Wirra group’s presence in the Adelaide Hills,

Founded in 2002 by former Mulderbosch vigneron Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson, Hahndorf Hill has built a loyal following for its wines, including being regarded as the leading Australian producer of Austrian white varietal gruner veltliner.

The six-hectare estate, just outside the historic village of Hahndorf, also features a popular cellar door and thriving wine tourism experience.

“At a time when the Australian wine industry is facing real challenges, we’re choosing to invest in quality, authenticity and long-term growth,” said Matthew Deller MW, CEO of Wirra Wirra.

“Larry and Marc have created something truly special. Hahndorf Hill fits perfectly with our vision for the future.”

Jacobs and Dobson will retire from the wine industry following the transition.

“Marc and I are thrilled that Wirra Wirra will be taking over the reins,” said Jacobs. “The Wirra Wirra team has all the skills and enthusiasm to take Hahndorf Hill to the next level.”

The Hahndorf Hill portfolio includes four expressions of grüner veltliner, and a range that includes blaufränkisch, St Laurent, and zweigelt. Hahndorf Hill wines are distributed nationally by Domaine Wine Shippers.

Vinarchy, meanwhile, will feature a large number of leading wine brands, ranging from Berri Estates, Hardy's, Jacob's Creek, Petaluma, Grant Burge, St Hallett, St Hugo and Orlando to New Zealand brands Stoneleigh, Brancott Estate, Church Road and Mud House.

It also includes Campo Viejo – the best selling Rioja brand, Ysios and Tarsus.

Helen McCarthy, from St Hallett, has been named to the new position as director of global winemaking at Vinarchy. 

Vinarchy is led by executive chairman Ben Clarke, who held a similar role at Accolade Wines. 

“We believe Vinarchy can lead the future of the wine category," Clarke said. "We will be a dedicated wine company, with scale, capability, reach, resources, talent, and an exceptional portfolio of leading brands. We want to redefine wine.

“The global wine industry faces serious structural challenges. Global wine consumption has been

declining for years, driven by changing consumer preferences and a shift to lower-alcohol drinks.

"Vinarchy will be bold and imaginative in meeting these challenges. With our enhanced scale, brand

investment program, innovation capability and industry-leading talent, we believe can meet many of

the challenges that the industry faces."

WBM reports the name Vinarchy combines Vin (the French word for wine), with Archy (from the Ancient Greek word for leadership). Together it means wine leadership.

Image: Matthew Deller, Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson at Hahndorf Hill 

Meet Australia's trendsetting gurus of gruner

The wine business is a global business nowadays, as evidenced by Larry Jacobs and Marc Dobson from Hahndorf Hill winery in the Adelaide Hills.  

Here you have two South Africans, firmly settled in Australia, working with a range of grape varieties from Austria and exporting to countries including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK. 

If you are looking for gruner veltliner, blaufrankisch, zweigfelt, even St Laurent, in Australia then you have come to the right place. 

Jacobs was a former intensive-care doctor who gave up medicine to become the founder of Mulderbosch Vineyards in Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

Dobson is a former Rand Daily Mail journalist and advertising copywriter from Cape Town. They are two of the nicest people in the business, as I was reminded by a recent visit. 

Having built Mulderbosch into an international brand, Jacobs sold up and moved to Australia with Dobson in 1997. Falling in love with the cool-climate Adelaide Hills, they bought and  developed Hahndorf Hill Winery.

Blaufrankisch, a red variety, has been grown at Hahndorf Hill for a quarter of a century. Zweigelt is a more recent arrival with St Laurent the newcomer. 

Much of their focus is on the vibrant and spicy white grape gruner veltliner, which many experts see as the "next big thing" in the wine industry. Huon Hooke has described them as "the gurus of gruner." 

"We believe the Adelaide Hills offers the perfect terroir for this grape," says Jacobs (above). "This is a variety that thrives on the dynamic pull between warm days and cold nights during the growing season.

"The Adelaide Hills wine region is defined as being a premier cool-climate region, not because it has particularly cool days during the growing season, but because of the cold nights. We live in a region with one of the biggest diurnal temperature variations, which is ideal for Austrian varieties."

The first vintage of Hahndorf Hill gruner veltliner was released over a decade ago and Hahndorf Hill is today one of the leaders of a group of producers in the Adelaide Hills. Today the pair produces no fewer than four different styles of gruner each vintage.

Visit the cellar door to try something different or to enjoy a wine and chocolate matching. The staff are as charming as the wines.  

See www.hahndorfhillswinery.com.au.