US-based Jackson Family Wines buys SA’s Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard
The California-based Jackson Family Wines has acquired South Australia-based Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard in McLaren Vale wine region.
The vineyard comprises 186 hectares of land best known for its production of shiraz, grenache and cabernet sauvignon. About half The Clarendon Vineyard property is planted with vines.
The estate was praised by international wine critic Robert Parker in his book The World’s Greatest Wine Estates as one of the world’s greatest vineyards.
The property, which features a chateau-inspired main house and an earth shelter house, fetched around its $10 million expectations, a heartening price given estimates that 20% of the country’s vineyards are surplus to requirements.
The Onkaparinga River flows through the estate.
“It says something that an iconic American wine company wants to have a stake in Australia and in The Clarendon Hills,” said David Hickinbotham, who managed the family vineyard.
The family put it up for sale after the 2010 death of home builder Alan Hickinbotham, David’s father, who had bought the estate several decades ago.
“We had six offerings and we all agreed that this was the best fit,” David told Wine Spectator.
Grapes from the vineyard have found their way into iconic wines including Penfolds Grange.
Jackson’s property portfolio also includes Yangarra Estate, a 170-hectare wine estate less than tthree kilometres from Clarendon, with 100 hectares under vine, which was purchased in 2000 from Normans Wines.
One of the first vineyards planted at elevation in South Australia, Clarendon Vineyard dates back to 1858. Set between 180 to 240 metres in elevation, it has dry-grown vines, some of which were planted in 1923, along with modern irrigated vineyards.
The estate includes a 740-square-metre stone mansion, designed in 1995 for Alan by the architect Rob Cheesman. David lived in the smaller Earth Shelter House, designed by the German architect Gerhard Schurer in 1981 and built into a hillside.
The Jackson group plans to convert both into hospitality houses for guests.
Although the Hickinbothams also sold their 690-hectare Paringa vineyard in the Murray River region last year for a reputed $8 million, they still own a 160-hectare vineyard in the Currency Creek appellation, about an hour’s drive south of Clarendon.
Katie Jackson, daughter of the company’s late founder Jess Jackson and current chairwoman Barbara R. Banke, will be responsible for The Clarendon property. She worked the harvest last year at Yangarra Park.
“We see more interest in Australia wines, especially at the high-quality end,” Jackson told Wine Spectator.
At the time of its October 2010 listing through Brock Harcourts Victor Harbor, Roman Bratasiuk, the internationally renowned winemaker at nearby Clarendon Hills winery, suggested the sale of Clarendon Winery was "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to join the ranks of Australia’s great vineyard owners".
