How entrepreneur, philanthropist and winemaker Peter Teakle’s legacy lives on

Entrepreneur, philanthropist and winemaker Peter Teakle taught his son that if you’re the smartest person in the room then you’re in the wrong room and today Ben is determined to carry on his larger-than-life father’s legacy.

Ben and Peter Teakle in their Port Lincoln cellar door.

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It was a crisp mid winter morning in Port Lincoln on June 29, 2024, with a salty breeze curling in from Boston Bay, when the famed Line & Label restaurant stood solemn and still.

Normally a bustling popular food destination on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, where some of the nation’s best seafood meets fine wine and sweeping vineyard views, the restaurant had been transformed into a place of mourning.

It was the day Peter Teakle, the larger-than-life Adelaide entrepreneur and philanthropist behind Teakle Wines, was laid to rest.

His youngest son, Ben Teakle, had chosen the venue deliberately and emotionally.

“The final chapter of his life was in Port Lincoln. I really wanted to tell all the chapters of his story, so everybody got more of a full picture of the Peter Teakle story,” Ben says. “The wake, or celebration of his life, was also at the restaurant. So it was mixed emotions for me on the day.”

Peter Teakle made his fortune printing wine labels through his family’s Adelaide business, Collotype Labels, which opened its doors in 1903.

He transformed it into a global, multimillion-dollar company after taking over from his father in 1986. It grew to build 34 manufacturing plants in 10 different countries, employing thousands of people.

Peter Teakle and friends in the South Australian Riverland.

Peter’s grandfather Gilbert had been the first Teakle to join Collotype Labels. Then the firm’s famed apprenticeship program was started by Peter’s father, Roy, who managed the business through World War II and numerous recessions.

In 2007 Collotype was purchased by Multi-Color Corporation, a leading consumer goods printer in the US, for $200m. The deal included an extra $10m earn-out over 12 months. Multi-Color is now one of the biggest players in the space globally.

At the time of the sale, Collotype was generating $130m in ­annual sales revenue and producing labels for eight of the top 15 ­global wine brands.

When Peter Teakle died on Friday, June 14, 2024 in hospital with Ben by his side, he had lived a full life. He had long been a smoker who always loved a glass of wine. His death left a massive hole.

“Unfortunately, he was taken too early,” Ben Teakle says. “He had been in and out of hospital for a period of time during 2023 and eventually his lifestyle caught up with him. The part we were all surprised by was the medical team told us that he should recover from his last episode. That he should be fine. Then the next day, he passed away. His organs just shut down. He was awake for a period of time but then he fell into a coma and went to sleep.

“There was lots of ‘I love yous’ and hugs when he was conscious. But we didn’t think he was going to die, so we didn’t say goodbye.”

Carrying the legacy

Ben Teakle is now the man tasked with carrying on the Teakle legacy at Teakle Wines, at Line & Label, and through the family investment arm, TeakCorp. His life has been shaped by his parents, whose influences were as contrasting as they were profound.

“Dad’s legacy is how he touched everyone around him, me included,” he says. “He taught me a lot. I still think about some of the lessons he taught me, and I miss him.”

Peter Teakle always told his son that if you are going to do something, do it once and properly. “He had a magnetism to him that attracted some really interesting people as well. He always said ‘Make sure you surround yourself with the right people, and if you are the smartest person in the room, you are probably in the wrong room.’ He empowered people and he was really passionate about succession planning. He wanted to provide opportunity, not just for me, but for future generations of our family as well.”

Peter and Ben Teakle their at Teakle Wines vineyard.

Ben Teakle was born on June 8, 1986 in Adelaide, the second of two boys to Peter Teakle and Sue Haselgrove. His mother came from a celebrated winemaking family. Her father, Colin Haselgrove, was not only the chief winemaker at Hardy’s but also a legendary yachtsman who won the 1950 Sydney-Hobart yacht race.

Today, a point near Taylor Island in the Spencer Gulf off Port Lincoln bears the Haselgrove name.

“Mum loved sailing, she loved wine, she had a great sense of ­humour and really strong morals,” Teakle says. “She was a great role model. She believed in standing up for what was right. We lived modestly, and that was a good lesson in the value of money.”

Peter Teakle was a towering figure who was gregarious, razor-sharp in business but also deeply driven. “Dad was a really strong character and had the gift of the gab,” Ben Teakle says. “He taught us some harsh lessons when we were young, but also some really important ones, especially around discipline.”

Peter and Sue separated when Ben was just two years old. Growing up, he lived with his mother and saw his father on weekends.

In 1991, Peter bought Akuna Station, a farm on the Murray River in South Australia’s Riverland, where he began dabbling in viticulture. It was here that his passion for wine deepened.

Unsure of path

He even bought and captained an 1876 paddle steamer, the PV Amphibious, renaming it the Akuna Amphibious.

Despite being immersed in wine, boats and business from a young age, Ben Teakle admits he was unsure of his path after finishing school at Adelaide’s Emmanuel College in 2003.

“I wasn’t a great student, but I loved business studies,” he says.

His father offered him a job on the production line at Collotype, where Peter and his own father had started in the business.

Teakle’s first role was in the re-roll department, where massive 2000m rolls of printed labels were trimmed for bottling ­machines. It was painstakingly precise work.

“Anyone who has worked in a production environment knows that every second is measured, and that cost is either born by the customer or the business,” he says. “So it was a great lesson early on that every second counts, that what you do has impact. If you make a mistake, those labels are sacrificed, and the business has to wear that cost, so the accountability around it was a really good, strong lesson for an 18-year-old.”

Carrying the Teakle name came with expectations but it was a responsibility he was grateful to accept.

Peter Teakle was a visionary, but he was also a planner. In 1999, after 35 years in the business, he sold 49 per cent of Collotype to three of his top executives, positioning himself as chairman and freeing up time to chase other ­passions.

After racing go-carts when he was younger, he had always dreamt of owning a Ferrari.

He eventually owned four of them and, since his death, three have been retained by his sons.

Over the next two decades he spent many summers in Port Lincoln – the town he first saw in 1986 when he sailed his yacht in the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race – and the winters at Hamilton Island in Queensland.

South Africa stint

Ben Teakle joined his father in 2015 to help establish TeakCorp after a stint living in South Africa with the Collotype business.

“I went to Brisbane at first because Dad was spending a lot of time in Queensland,” he says. “But commercial property wasn’t making sense there. After six months, Dad said, ‘You are off the payroll. I’ll lend you some money and if you make it work, you can pay yourself’.”

There were rules: no shares, no bonds, just property.

It pushed Teakle to think outside the box. Eventually, he found a private debt deal in Adelaide, where a developer’s funding had fallen through. “The private banker handling the deal was so embarrassed that credit had pulled the rug out under the developer that he was looking for anybody that could solve this issue,” he says.

“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I took this deal back to Dad, and said, ‘I can’t do this myself. I’ll put all the money I can into this, but I want to get the group involved as well.’ That was the first private debt deal that we ever did.”

Now, TeakCorp focuses on private debt, infrastructure funds and commercial property, though its heartbeat remains in Port Lincoln.

Peter Teakle in the Teakle Wine vineyard with head winemaker Liz Heidenreich.

Peter Teakle never fully retired and in 2017 opened The Line & Label restaurant. The winery and cellar door followed in 2020.

“I think the healthiest and happiest I saw him was in the twilight of his life when he had the winery and vineyard project in Port Lincoln,” Ben Teakle says.

“It made him happy to be back on a farm again. He also never thought he’d be a restaurateur but he loved being involved in the energy of hospitality. For us to be on that journey together, on top of the family office, was ­exciting.”

In February 2025, Peter Teakle Wines rebranded to Teakle Wines, the final project that the patriarch had worked on with his son.

Teakle Wines is now a multi-generational family business focused on showcasing the best food and hospitality experience that Port Lincoln and the surrounding region – including the pristine ­waters of Coffin Bay – can offer.

Ben and Peter Teakle overlooking the vineyard from the Line & Label restaurant.

While the Teakle family is among the wealthiest in Port Lincoln (Peter long owned a Riviera 51 Flybridge luxury yacht he called Aussie Battler), Ben says he has always been conscious of the negative effects of money.

“I think the most important things in life are family and friends and the connections you make in life, and it is important for that to not be affected by wealth. I live my life every day thinking about that and try to make sure that wealth does not change us,” he says.

For example he has turned his father’s famed “Ferrari shed” at the Teakle Wines winery, which housed the patriarch’s car collection, into a workshop.

“I’ve just always believed that it’s important to separate the family office and personal assets from the business and the team,” he says. “Having personal assets like Ferraris on site can cause unnecessary distractions.”

Ben Teakle’s mother died in April 2023 after a long battle with emphysema. She had been a lifelong smoker, and he was her primary carer until she entered aged care.

“I was there as much as I could be. She looked after me growing up so it was only fair that I looked after her when she needed it,” he says. “The last memory I have with Mum was really special. Two weeks after our wedding, [wife] Kylie and I sat with her and looked through photos of the wedding, and had a glass of champagne. She was too sick to go to the ceremony.”

When his father died, Teakle had lost both his parents in 15 months. Neither got to see their grandson.

In July 2024, just a week after Peter’s funeral, Ben and Kylie welcomed their first child, a son named Harvey. “Dad was so proud when he heard I was becoming a dad,” he says.

Still to celebrate his 40th birthday, Teakle now wants to continue to grow TeakCorp and provide the same opportunities to future generations of the Teakle family that he was given.

“That is my responsibility,” he says. “Harvey is now 10 months old. He’s got a great personality and it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns into another Peter Teakle.”

Originally published as How entrepreneur, philanthropist and winemaker Peter Teakle’s legacy lives on