Wine growers’ never-ending woes

Constellation Brands, the world’s major wine company, which has been selling off vineyards in Australia for two years now, has announced plans in April 2010 to offload another of its wine assets through the planned sale of Amberley Estate in the Margaret River region, West Australia.

Constellation reported that a number of parties had expressed interest in acquiring the 67ha Amberley Estate property and as a result it had been decided to explore a sale. The sale would include the property, vineyard, the restaurant and cellar door but not the brand, which would be retained by Constellation. The sale price for the property is expected to be less than AUD 10 million (EUR 7.0 million).

Industry sources have indicated that at least one of the interested parties is from overseas and already has vineyards in Margaret River.