Penfolds hoping to immerse us in Grange

THE birthplace of Australia’s most-collected wine, Penfolds Grange, is undergoing a $10 million-plus makeover.

Penfold’s chief winemaker Peter Gago. The company hopes its Magill complex revamp will convert casual observers to international ambassadors.

THE birthplace of Australia’s most-collected wine, Penfolds Grange, is undergoing a $10 million-plus makeover as parent company Treasury Wine Estates seeks to convert a fast-growing tide of visitors into passionate evangelists for the brand.

The revamp of the winery complex at Magill in Adelaide’s north will move the cellar door visitor centre to the front of the winery to enable visitors to taste while looking across the vineyard first planted in 1844.

The redevelopment will also add a cafe, private tasting rooms and a museum of artefacts from the company’s 170-year history, and revamp the cellars to take visitor tours. Treasury Wines chief marketing officer Simon Marton said there were many VIP visitors making a pilgrimage to the birthplace of Penfolds when they visited Adelaide.

“So we want to make the experience as special as it should be,” Mr Marton said.

All of the site’s existing ­buildings — some of them dating back to the 1840s — will be ­retained while the historic Magill winery, where a portion of Penfolds’ top wines ­including Grange and Bin 707 cabernet sauvignon are still produced, will be left untouched.

“It’s still a working winery, that’s still the centrepiece of the site, we don’t want to take away the magic,” Mr Marton said.

While he declined to comment on sales that he expected the redevelopment to generate, Mr Marton said the value of the overhaul would be in the customers it converted from casual observers to volunteer international ambassadors.

“This is about taking Penfolds to the next level as a luxury brand, immersing consumers in the ­experience and getting them to be fans to they spread the word,” he said.

The move comes as Treasury Wines seeks to rebuild its fortunes after its US business lost $160 million last year, including $35m that the company spent to destroy old bottles left unsold on the shelves of distributors.

Penfolds is estimated to generate more in earnings for the company than all of its other brands combined.

These include Wolf Blass, Lindeman’s, Wynns and Rosemount.

The brand has in recent years focused its brand-building efforts on ultra-exclusive products such as the $168,000 Block 42 Kalimna 2004 ampoule, which came in a handmade glass tube enclosed in a wooden cabinet.

However, newly appointed Treasury chief executive Michael Clarke has pledged to focus the company’s marketing efforts on boosting consumer demand.