Penny's Hill Winery at McLaren Vale bought by Warren Randall's Seppeltsfield group to counter China blow
Seppeltsfield Randall Wine Group executive chairman Warren Randall with Tony Parkinson (inset) at the sale of Penny's Hill Winery, grown from 1988 on the original Goss estate in McLaren Vale.
Barossa Valley wine giant Seppeltsfield bought McLaren Vale’s Penny’s Hill Wines in 2022 as part of a strategy developed to counter the collapse in Chinese exports.
Penny’s Hills and Black Chook brands were started by pioneering winemaker Tony Parkinson and wife Susie in 1988 after they bought 32 hectares of foothills east of McLaren Vale. The property was planted to vines in 1991 with a Malpas Road property added in 1993 and the Goss Corner paddock in 1993. “Ingleburne”, the Goss family homestead, was added to the Malpas and Goss properties to unite the original 1855 property.
Known for its distinctive red-dot packaging, Penny’s Hill became one of the region’s major wine producers, with annual sales near 600,000 bottles, including exports to 15 countries. Its string of awards included the best of show Australian Red award for its 2019 Skeleton Key Shiraz at the 2021 Mundus Vini Grand International Wine Awards in Neustadt, Germany.
Warren Randall, the executive chairman of Seppeltsfield Randall Wine Group, said buying Penny’s Hill represented a strategy developed in response to the “punitive and permanent” tariffs introduced by the Chinese government in 2020: “In 180 years, the Australian wine industry has never suffered such a setback – 23% of the total annual value of the entire Australian wine crop was lost overnight.”
Randall said his group was previously selling about 50% of its bulk and bottled wine into China but it would seek to expand other export markets. The 10-year strategy was based around the acquisition of brands producing 50,000 to 100,000 dozen cases in Australia’s premium wine growing districts, with a strong export sales focus.
Parkinson said it was the right time to step down after three decades in the industry.