Victorian tea plantation seeks to bag a buyer

A thriving green tea plantation in Victoria’s northeast is seeking to bag a buyer.

Longtime owners Colin and Sue Walker have listed the 25ha property midway between Bright and Porepunkah with a $2.25 million asking price.

They’ve decided to retire after about two decades of running the plantation at 95 Quins Gap Rd, which has an ongoing contract to supply Japanese company Ito En with leaves.

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The property was bare when the Walkers bought it. They had a dairy farming background in the Goulburn Valley, and said they decided to switch to green tea production after being alerted to the industry’s growth potential.

They went on to plant their first 2.4ha green tea plantation in 2002, adding a further 1.2ha two years later.

“(Ito En) advised us to aim for a production of 18 tonnes of leaf per hectare. But we are regularly now achieving 35 tonnes of leaf per hectare, with all the harvesting done mechanically,” Mr Walker said.

“Our plants are now at something like full maturity and they should continue to produce at the current strong leaf yield for many years — green tea plants in Japan are known to have a productive life of up to a century.”

The plantation is contracted to leading Japanese tea producer Ito En.

Once harvested, the leaves go to Ito En’s processing factory in nearby Wangaratta.

The Walkers have set up quality irrigation infrastructure for watering the leaves, and protecting them from frost.

Their property also offers steel and timber cattle yards, seven paddocks watered by a bore, several dams, a water extraction licence, and shedding for machinery and storage.

There’s also a building the vendors had previously opened to “tourist bus loads” for tasting and buying tea products, which the new owner could reinstate if they wanted.

Completing the package is a brick house that’s been remodelled to feature four bedrooms plus a study.

A four-bedroom family house is part of the package.

The main bedroom has a dressing room and ensuite, while the kitchen has been updated to feature Miele appliances including twin ovens, an island bench and walk-in pantry.

The open-plan living space has a slow combustion log fireplace, takes in striking valley views and opens out to an undercover alfresco deck.

Dickens Real Estate principal Gerard Gray said the property offered a “turnkey lifestyle and productive opportunity”, with the plantation well established and ready for a new owner to jump right in.

“(It has) enough workload to keep a purchaser active and interested, while enjoying all the renowned delights of Bright and the adjacent north east and alpine valleys,” he said.

The property is being sold privately.

This article from the Herald Sun originally appeared as “Bright Green tea plantation contracted to Ito En for sale”.