Iconic SA winery The Lane Vineyard returns to Australian ownership in multimillion-dollar deal

Adelaide Hills vineyard The Lane has returned to Australian ownership in a sales deal worth about $20m.

The Lane’s chief executive officer Jared Stringer partnered with an unnamed investor to purchase the Hahndorf-based winery from the UK’s wealthy Vestey family, ending more than a decade of foreign ownership.

Mr Stringer, who has served as CEO since 2019, would not disclose the exact selling price but said reports that put the value of The Lane at $20m were “within the mark’’.

He described the decision to invest personally in the business as a “vote of confidence in our team, the strength of the brand and the enormous potential that still lies ahead’’.

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The Lane Vineyard is back in Aussie hands following a sales deal worth about $20m.

“This is an incredibly important sale, not only for me but certainly for my team – there’s nearly 50 staff and I feel a significant level of responsibility for keeping a roof over their heads,’’ Mr Stringer said.

“(The Lane) has been here since 1993 and is one of the pillars of the Adelaide Hills wine region.

“To have it return to Australian hands is super-important and a great endorsement for the region.’’

Mr Stringer said there had been strong competition from other interested buyers, including those from overseas, but George Vestey, who until the sale had served as The Lane’s director, had been adamant the winery be sold to whoever could best continue the business rather than the highest bidder.

Mr Stringer declined to reveal the identity of the other shareholder but said they were an Adelaide Hills investor with no previous involvement in the wine industry.

“They have looked at The Lane from the outside-in for a very long time,’’ he said.

He said the investor’s condition for purchase was that Mr Stringer stay on with the business.

The Lane sells about 50,000 dozen bottles of wine per year, well up on the less than 30,000 it was producing when the Vesteys bought it in 2011.

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The deal ends more than a decade of foreign ownership.

It has 58.38ha of vineyards – mostly planted with chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and semillon – and a 600 tonne “super premium’’ winery.

Predominantly a domestic brand, The Lane exports to the UK and Canada.

However, it does not have markets in the US or China, making it somewhat immune to Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

“As far as our business is concerned, we have been recording significant growth year-on-year for about five years now and it’s not stopping,’’ Mr Stringer said.

In addition to a cellar door, the business includes an award-winning restaurant, although plans to create a $10m luxury lodge and wellness centre were scuttled by the Adelaide Hills Council.

The sale of the Lane marks the off-loading of the final Australian asset owned by the Vestey family as part of their succession plans.

George Vestey, Chief Executive Officer of Vestey Holdings Limited. Picture: Vestey Holdings

The family, estimated to be worth about $1bn, are close friends to the royals, with the late Lady Ceilia Vestey a close confidant of Queen Elizabeth II and godmother to Prince Harry.

Prior to 2011, the winery was owned by John and Helen Edwards, who established the first 30ha of vineyards on the outskirts of Hahndorf in 1993.

– by Lauren Ahwan