Het bericht is al enkele dagen in de wereld. En eigenlijk alleen bestemd voor goed ‘ingevoerde’ wijnprofessionals. Maar omdat er een relatie is met de wijnen van Penfolds, ook bij Nederlandse consumenten niet onbekend, geven we de mutatie kort weer: de Hickinbotham Vineyard in het Australische Clarendon is voor naar schatting tien miljoen dollar verkocht aan de bekende Amerikaanse wijnfamilie Jackson. Deze wijngaard leverde onder meer druiven voor de bekende Penfolds Grange. Amerikaanse collega’s meldden eerder:

 

“The Hickinbotham Vineyard at Clarendon, the source of some of Australia’s finest Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon, now has an American owner. Jackson Family Wines has announced its purchase of the 445-acre McLaren Vale property. The sale comprises 207 planted acres on rolling hillsides, some steep and wooded, and two architecturally significant homes. Although no purchase price was announced, industry sources estimate it was more than $10 million.

 

“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 death in 2010 of Alan Hickinbotham, David’s father, who bought the estate several decades ago and greatly expanded the plantings. “We had six offerings and we all agreed that this was the best fit,” David told Wine Spectator.

 

Although grapes from the vineyard have found their way into such iconic wines as Penfolds Grange and Hardys Eileen Hardy, the Clarendon Hills winery most famously put a spotlight on it. Proprietor Roman Bratasiuk, who labeled single-vineyard Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings as Hickinbotham Vineyard, will continue to have rights to the same portions of the vineyard under terms of the sale to Jackson. “They didn’t have to do that,” Hickinbotham noted, “but they agreed to honor what was a handshake agreement for the past 15 years.”