Treasury Wine Estates sells T’Gallant for AU$9.7 million

A couple of Australian investors have snapped up Mornington Peninsula-based winery T’Gallant from Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), licensing the T’Gallant Wine brand to reopen the cellar door and restaurant.

Melbourne-based investors Ben Gray and Dion Hershan have bought the 16-hectare estate, which includes 8 hectares of vineyards, for AU$9.7 million (£5.4m).

TWE will continue to produce the T’Gallant Wine range following the sale, which was closed in October 2022.

As reported by Just Drinks, Tim Ford, TWE CEO, said: “In October, Treasury Wine Estates completed the sale of T’Gallant on the Mornington Peninsula to financial investors, who will licence the brand to re-open the T’Gallant cellar door and restaurant in 2023. TWE will continue to produce the T’Gallant range of wines.”

The wine brand’s website currently states that the vineyard, cellar door and pizzeria are “permanently closed”.

Gray is a founding partner of private equity firm BGH Capital, and Hershan is executive chairman and head of equities at fund manager Yarra Capital.

T’Gallant’s website describes the winery as “the home of Australian Pinot Grigio”, offering both Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris wines across its ranges.

Originally planted as an apple orchard, the winery was bought in 1994 with the intention of planting vines. T’Gallant was bought for $3 million in 2003 by TWE’s former parent company Fosters Group Ltd. TWE also tried to sell the T’Gallant estate in 2015, it has been reported.

Treasury Wine Estates published its full-year results in August, which were ahead of market expectations and indicated that its much revised business plan is paying off.

Although it announced a not unexpected 3.6% drop in net sales revenue to AU$2.48 billion (£1.43 billion) – largely due to the disposal of non-premium lines in the US – core earnings were 2.6% ahead at AU$523.7 million. Net profit after tax before material items rose by 4.2% to AU$322.6 million.

But what really buoyed investors was Treasury’s enhanced dividend of 16 cents per share for the full year.