Fosters has received an encouraging response to the news that it was prepared to sell the Maglieri winery (plus accompanying bottling hall) and the eleven or so hectares of vines planted around it. The company is conducting due diligence on the proposals and expressions of interest it has received, and is expecting to finalise the transaction in March. When Mildara Blass acquired Maglieri in 1999, it bought a hot-selling brand of mid-market wine, around one hundred hectares of McLaren Vale vineyard and a production facility. It also bought one of Australia’s hottest Lambrusco brands that does a roaring business in Queensland! With the development of the new Wolf Blass winery in the Barossa, Maglieri’s existing winery facilities became superfluous. Furthermore, as the company’s other McLaren Vale label, Ingoldby, made a belated return to popularity, the Maglieri brand became less important to its owners. Much of the original Maglieri vineyard now supplies the Ingoldby label, but the brand is not for sale. The retention of the Steve Maglieri Shiraz and the range of varietal McLaren Vale table wines under the Maglieri label have been joined by a series of three very promising Italian varietals, namely a Barbera, a Nebbiolo and a Sangiovese. And, naturally, the Lambrusco sticks around as well.
