Endeavour Group buys McLaren Vale’s Shingleback

Dan Murphy’s owner Endeavour Group has acquired McLaren Vale winery Shingleback, adding to its growing portfolio of premium wine brands.

Endeavour Group has acquired Shingleback in Mclaren Vale. Picture: Supplied

The owner of Dan Murphy’s and the country’s largest pub operator has acquired premium McLaren Vale winery Shingleback.

Endeavour Group has added the label to its portfolio of premium Australian and New Zealand brands, which also includes Chapel Hill in McLaren Vale, Krondorf in Barossa Valley and Riddoch in Coonawarra.

The acquisition includes all Shingleback brands, a long-term lease of the McLaren Vale cellar door and an ongoing grape supply agreement with the founding Davey family.

Shingleback, established by John and Kym Davey in 1998, sells about 100,000 dozen bottles each year, mainly across Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand.

Its wines are also stocked by Endeavour at its Dan Murphy’s, BWS and other bottle shops, as well as across the company’s ALH Hotels network which operates more than 340 pubs across the country.

Shingleback in Mclaren Vale has been sold to Endeavour Group. Picture: Supplied

Shingleback will form part of Endeavour’s growing premium wine business - Paragon Wine Estates - within its Pinnacle Drinks arm.

Pinnacle Drinks director Paul Walton said Shingleback was one of McLaren Vale’s “most prized brands”, recently securing four trophies at the 2022 Sydney Royal Wine Show.

“We are thrilled to add Shingleback Wine to our Paragon Wine Estates as part of our strategy to grow our premium wine portfolio,” he said.

“Shingleback Wine has been producing beautifully rich and full-flavoured wines for 25 years, and we look forward to continuing to offer it to wine lovers in Australia and around the world as part of Paragon Wine Estates.”

Surrounded by producers including d’Arenberg, Dowie Doole, Oliverhill and Paxton Winery, the Shingleback property features 112ha of sustainably managed vineyards, planted predominantly with shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, with smaller plantings including chardonnay, fiano, mataro, tempranillo, grenache, graciano and touriga nacional.

The wines include the Davey Estate Single Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz which featured in James Halliday’s Top 100 – 20 reds under $40, while wines such as the Unedited Shiraz range up to $80 per bottle.

The business was listed for sale in March by winery broker Toby Langley of Langley & Co Advisors.

The Davey brothers said the business had a “bright future” under Endeavour ownership.

“We are very proud of our team’s stellar achievements over the last 25 years and are confident that Endeavour Group has the passion, people and capacity to continue to build on that success.”

ASX-listed Endeavour was spun off from Woolworths last year. Woolworths has retained a 14.6 per cent stake, while the Mathieson family owns 15.1 per cent of the company.