Wine giant's shock closure of Banrock Station cellar door end of a 'fantastic marriage'
Banrock Station, located in South Australia's Riverland, will close its cellar door and restaurant alongside Rolf Binder near Tanunda in the Barossa Valley.
The last day of service at both cellar doors is expected to be towards the end of June.
The decision comes just months after international wine brands Accolade and Pernod Ricard Wines merged to create Vinarchy, promising "innovation" in global winemaking.
The company said the decision would create "uncertainty" for team members employed at both sites, but committed to supporting staff in the transition.
Chief supply officer Joe Russo said support would include redeployment opportunities to local locations, or redundancy and outplacement support "where necessary".
The company said viticulture and vineyard operations would remain at both Banrock Station and Rolf Binder sites with no impact on those teams.
The company has also invested $70 million in its Berri Estates site, the largest winery in the Southern Hemisphere, to turn the facility into Vinarchy's primary commercial winemaking, packaging and warehousing hub.
Winemaking at St Hallett in the Barossa and Hardy's Tintara in McLaren Vale will be shifted to Vinarchy's Rowland Flat site by the 2026-27 vintages at a cost of $30 million.
"These important changes represent Vinarchy's commitment to building a stronger winemaking footprint in South Australia," Mr Russo said.
Vinarchy produces more than 32 million cases of wine and turns over more than $1.5 billion in net sales revenue annually.
The imminent closure of Banrock Station's public operations has raised questions about what impact the move will have on local tourism and the environment.
Tony Sharley was involved in the foundation of Banrock Station, including the cultivation of the site's globally recognised Ramsar wetlands, before stepping away in 2009.
Mr Sharley said he was disappointed the experiences would be coming to an end.
"It's quite clever in a way that as a visitor experience, it brought wine lovers to nature, and it brought nature lovers to wine," he said.
"It was a fantastic marriage."
Mr Sharley called Banrock Station's former owners Hardy Wines' original decision to mix wine with nature "a unique piece".
"It was very courageous back in the day for a company … to create a cellar door overlooking a wetland and then building a wine brand around its care for the environment," he said.
The wetlands surrounding the winery have been a drawcard for visitors as part of the experiences offered by the brand.
In 2002, the area was made a Ramsar site of international importance due to its significance for wildlife and biodiversity.
The Ramsar Convention means the Banrock Wetlands' ecological character must be conserved and meet Australian Ramsar management principles.
A Vinarchy spokesperson said the company would continue its commitment to maintaining the wetlands as required by the convention, including environmental watering and drying cycles.
"We will continue to consult with stakeholders regarding wetland conservation, including potential partnerships with environmental tourism organisations," a spokesperson said.
Riverland MP Tim Whetstone labelled Vinarchy's decision to close Banrock Station a "day of reckoning for the region" and questioned the implications on the local economy.
"The Banrock business, the wine brand, the wetlands and the destination into the Riverland has been widely regarded as a centre of excellence," Mr Whetstone said.
"It has had a significant association with environmentalists and environmental visitation that I think now will see people look elsewhere."
The shift for the Vinarchy brand follows a tumultuous period for the Riverland wine industry as it grapples with challenging seasonal conditions and global oversupply.
"I would've thought that the Banrock brand and the facility would have been a really good working piece of diversity in what is a very ailing industry," Mr Whetstone said.
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