We hear a lot about how China is now the Australian wine industry’s number one export wine market. What’s less well known is the growth of Chinese investment in Australian vineyards and wineries. Two recent deals provide a snapshot of how this story is unfolding.
In late April this year a private Chinese company purchased the small, 10-hectare, 2,000-case Auldstone Cellars vineyard and winery in Glenrowan from owners Michael and Nancy Reid, who have run the business since 1987. The Glenrowan region, near Rutherglen, Milawa and Beechworth in north-east Victoria, three hours’ drive from Melbourne, is little-known outside Australia, but...