An award-winning family-owned winery that boasts products stocked at bottle shops next to Coles and Woolworths has gone into administration after 25 years because of Chinese sanctions and floods.
Salena Estate Wines Pty Ltd went into administration on February 22 with KPMG’s lead partner in South , Tim Mableson, appointed as administrator.
Colliers, which has spent almost a year trying to sell the business, blamed Chinese trade sanctions on for the winery’s financial problems, with the punitive 2020 tariffs still likely to remain until the end of March.
The company was among ‘s top 20 wine producers and exported to 10 countries, growing grapes on 191 hectares of land at Bookpurnong in South ‘s Riverland region.
An award-winning family-owned winery that boasts products stocked at bottle shops next to Coles and Woolworths has gone into administration after 25 years because of Chinese sanctions and floods
Chief executive Bob Franchitto (pictured) and his wife Sylvia established the company in the South n town of Loxton in 1998, naming it after their daughter Salena Muirden who was, until recently, the winery’s marketing manager
Chief executive Bob Franchitto and his wife Sylvia established the company near the South n town of Loxton in 1998, naming it after their daughter Salena Muirden who was the winery’s marketing manager.
The organic wines were stocked at Liquorland, owned by Coles, and Dan Murphy’s and BWS, now owned by Endeavour Group which split off from Woolworths in 2021.
Its labels included Twisted Sticks by Salena, The Timekeeper and BFR, with its products exported to Asia, Europe and the United States as part of an average, annual production of 15,000 tonnes.
The wine company has won a prestigious gold medal at the 2022 Riverland Wine Show, with this accolade among its 1,500 trophies and medals.
Colliers’s national director of transaction services and agribusiness Tim Altschwager said China’s 2020 sanctions had crippled the winery he had tried to sell unsuccessfully since April 2023.
‘That asset was particularly supplying wine to the Chinese market,’ he told Daily Mail on Monday.
‘When that trade was ceased, the operations or the market for the products that they produce, they lost that market which is pretty difficult and then to pick it up elsewhere is quite hard in this market.’
The family company also had to content with Covid stopping winery visits in 2020 and 2021 then floods in 2022 before a cost of living crisis saw ns consumers cut back on spending.
‘Their location was affected by floods as well so it was a bit of a perfect storm,’ Mr Altschwager said.
‘Not just them but the whole n wine sector.
‘It’s just the industry: they’re not the only ones finding it tough at the moment.’
The winery which produces Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot and Chardonnay went on the market last year through Colliers, who marketed the 17million litres of bulk wine storage.
Its labels included Twisted Sticks by Salena, The Timekeeper and BFR
The premises also included the award-winning Cucina 837 restaurant and function centre.
Salena Estate Wines can continue trading as the administrators work out a deal with creditors.
Daily Mail has contacted Salena Estate Wines and KPMG for comment, with the n Securities and Investments Commission announcing the administration on Friday.
It’s understood an administrator was at the winery on Monday.