Trophy Homes: A drop of whisky

El Nido, the Brisbane home of Margaret Batt, the wife of bankrupt whisky baron Keith Batt, is for sale.

The vineyard at Coppin Grove, Hawthorn.

El Nido, the Hamilton Hill home of Margaret Batt, the wife of bankrupt whisky baron Keith Batt, is for sale. The property developer founded Nant Whisky but declared bankruptcy in 2015 with $16 million of debt. El Nido is one of the earliest of Brisbane’s Spanish mission-style homes, built in the 1920s on a 800sq m hillside parcel. Ray White Ascot’s Damon Warat is marketing the property. The company that owns the house is under the control of liquidator Gavin Morton. When Batt was bankrupted he listed his address as a 1910 house in Clayfield that recently sold for $3.4m, having been bought by a family company in 2015 for $3.6m. Morton was also the liquidator for another one of the Batt family’s discretionary trusts that owned Ragamuffin, the multiple Sydney-Hobart winning yacht.

Heard it through the grapevine

The buyer of the $12m-plus Hawthorn vineyard, on Melbourne’s Yarra River, remains unconfirmed, although the mist of intrigue is lifting. The home of Coppin Grove Wines, a boutique family vineyard established in 1998, was sold mid-spring through Kay & Burton agent Scott Patterson, who indicated the buyer would continue the winemaking started by Michael Cohn and wife Ann. Its 2018 settlement details will reveal the buyer and final price but former Goldman Sachs operative Adam Gregory seems set to emerge as connected to the mystery buyer of the inner-city vineyard that supplies George Calombaris’s Hellenic Republic restaurants in Melbourne. It remains to be seen if it’s him, his family or friends, or investors via the Light Warrior Group, his venture capital firm.

Bronco finds a buyer

Brisbane Broncos veteran Alex Glenn has an offer on the Wavell Heights home he bought just last year. The 29-year-old, fresh from signing with the Queensland club until the end of 2019, paid $1.1m for the house 11km north of Suncorp Stadium. The Sunny Avenue house with a dual-level design has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Its gardens feature a swimming pool. Steve Grimbas at Place Nundah found the buyer in just 18 days on the market. Glenn apparently plans to move back to the Gold Coast.

Apartment buy past the post

The owners of Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente, David Henderson and wife Rhonda, have bought back into the Gold Coast market, downsizing to a $3.5m Surfers apartment. They recently sold their Mermaid Beach mansion for $16.5m to Austworld plumbing group’s Sam Raso and wife Rosa. The Hendersons built the house in 2010 after paying $4.5m for the beachfront block. Designed by Paul Uhlmann, the house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a library, a gym and a man cave with bar. It was sold through David’s brother Luke, an agent at John Henderson Professionals Mermaid Beach. Their new bolthole is a 340sq m apartment at the Waterline building. Michael Kollosche of Kollosche Prestige Agents sold the apartment.

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