Seppeltsfield owner Randall Wine Group acquires McLaren Vale’s Gemtree Wines

Seppeltsfield owner Warren Randall’s latest acquisition is part of a push to attract a new generation of millennial wine drinkers.

Gemtree Wines in McLaren Vale.

South Australian wine titan and Seppeltsfield owner Warren Randall has continued his acquisition spree, snapping up McLaren Vale’s Gemtree Wines.

The acquisition is part of Mr Randall’s ambition of becoming a major player in the organic wine market, and attracting a new generation of millennial wine consumers.

Gemtree was founded by the Buttery family in 1998, and currently sells about 40,000 cases a year, implementing biodynamic practices across its winemaking operation.

As part of the acquisition, Mr Randall’s Randall Wine Group (RWG) will take over the Gemtree brand and cellar door, with production relocated to Randall’s Boar’s Rock bulk wine facility in McLaren Vale.

It follows the sale of Gemtree’s main production facility to family-owned wine producers Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards and Mike Press Wines earlier this year.

Randall Wine Group executive chairman Warren Randall with Gemtree's Melissa Brown and Mike Brown. Picture: Asher Milgate (Considered Image)

Vendors Mike and Melissa Brown (the daughter of Paul Buttery who founded the business with wife Jill) will remain with the business, with Mr Brown overseeing production at Boar’s Rock and Ms Brown managing the 80ha Hiltop organic vineyard, which RWG acquired for $5.7m earlier this year.

Mr Randall said the global organic wine market had increased by 250 per cent over the past decade, and there was room for more growth by tapping into the sustainability-conscious Millennial market.

“As an industry we are not doing enough to attract young consumers, like the Millennials, and entice them to become regular wine consumers,” he said.

“Currently, Millennials buy much less wine than the Boomers. They are more educated and aware, and have a greater appreciation of choices and the provenance of what they eat and drink.

“They are more likely to seek and understand the winemaking techniques used to craft the wine they are buying and consuming.

“An organic or biodynamically crafted wine brand with genuine provenance and integrity, like Gemtree, is more likely to appeal than a generic, non-organic wine brand in the supermarkets with no provenance.”

Gemtree Wines’ biodynamic hut. Picture: Brad Crouch

The Browns and former business partner, Chinese iron ore and property investor Yuangang Song, put Gemtree on the market last year, later selling off the main 3000 tonne production facility in July.

Gemtree wines sell for as high as $260 for the Subterra Shiraz, while it also has varietals in the $15-$25 range, exporting to Canada, the US, Hong Kong, Denmark, Singapore, New Zealand and Sweden.

Mr Randall, whose vineyard holdings span more than 3600ha across South Australia, said plans to further expand the brand globally would be supported by private organic grape growers in the McLaren Vale region.

“Australia possesses natural climatic attributes that are conducive to the crafting of organic wine in both the vineyard and the winery,” he said.

“Our hot and dry Mediterranean climate in McLaren Vale is entirely suited to world class organic and biodynamic wines and yet we are the 11th in the world in terms of organic vineyard area with only 1 per cent of the world’s organic vineyards.

“There is a significant opportunity for Australian wine to penetrate the biggest organic wine markets in the world, like Germany, France, United Kingdom, United States of America and Sweden.”

The Gemtree deal follows RWG’s acquisition of McLaren Vale’s Penny’s Hill Wines last year, and the purchase of three vineyards from Accolade Wines, which took its holdings in the region to more than 900ha.

Gemtree previously exported to China before tariffs were slapped on Australian wine in 2021, and Mr Randall sees an opportunity to resume sales there following the potential re-opening of the Chinese market.

At the time of the Penny’s Hill purchase, he outlined a new export-focused strategy based on acquiring established brands in Australia’s premium wine regions.

Originally published as Seppeltsfield owner Randall Wine Group acquires McLaren Vale’s Gemtree Wines