Barossa Valley’s Schild Estate put on the market

The Barossa Valley’s oldest family-owned grape grower is selling off its winery and brand, as it refocuses on its vigneron roots.

The Barossa Valley’s oldest family-owned grape grower Schild Estate is selling off its winery and brand, but plans to retain ownership of its extensive vineyard portfolio in the region.

Schild Estate started producing wines in 1998, but the family’s roots in the Barossa date back much further to when Ben and Alma Schild acquired their first vineyard in the region in 1952.

Their son Ed took the reins of the family business following Ben’s sudden death in 1956 and later created the Schild Estate brand in 1998.

Under his leadership, it has grown its domestic and international sales to 20,000-30,000 dozen bottles a year, with its flagship Moorooroo Shiraz, produced using vines planted in 1847, fetching around $200 a bottle.

The Schild Estate winery and vineyard near Lyndoch. Picture: Langley & Co.

However with Ed stepping back from day-to-day operations in the last couple of years, and the Australian wine industry still recovering from tariffs introduced by the Chinese government in 2020, the family has decided to exit wine production and refocus on its grape-growing roots.

Schild Estate chief executive Sue Henderson said exports to China had previously ­constituted about 15 per cent of total sales, and the company had since looked to new and existing markets across Asia and closer to home.

“We sell in about 27 countries so we’ve got quite a diversified distribution,” she said.

“More recently we have focused more on the domestic market and that wasn’t necessarily a China decision – it was before that, and now it’s probably a little more domestic than export which is good, because the Australian market is quite profitable for Australian wineries.

Ed Schild with wife Lorraine.

“I think the biggest issue about the China position was the margin was so good. It has really punched Barossa because Barossa was the most popular wine to go to China in the premium sector.

“Everyone’s still recovering from that and it’s going to be quite a while for the industry to get back to any sense of normality.”

The Schild Estate brand and its 1000-tonne winery near Lyndoch are included in the sale, along with a 2ha shiraz vineyard, barrel storage facility, recently upgraded tasting room and offices.

However the family is planning to retain ownership of more than 130ha of vineyards across 10 sites in the southern part of the Barossa, Ms Henderson said, and is offering an incoming purchaser access to the fruit via a grape supply agreement.

“The greatest strength of the brand is the wines are expressions of specific vineyards that are really good quality, and some of them are very special and quite iconic,” she said.

Ed’s son Michael, Schild Estate’s head vigneron, is planning to continue managing the family’s vineyards, while sister Leanne Chapman is currently the company’s exports and logistics manager.

The sale of Schild Estate follows the family’s sale of the nearby 32ha Ahrens Vineyard to neighbouring wine producer Kies Family Wines in 2019.

Winery broker Langley & Co. is handling the sale of Schild Estate, with expressions of interest closing on September 30.

Originally published as Barossa Valley’s Schild Estate put on the market