Sandalford
Sandalford is one of the oldest and largest wineries in the Swan Valley on the outskirts of Greater Perth in Western Australia . It ranks first among the privately owned wineries in this region. The head office with local production facility and sales point is located in the Caversham district of the Local Government Area City of Swan .
history
According to our own understanding, the founding date of the winery is 1840, which is historically fuzzy. Because this date is only evidence that Queen Victoria the expedition experts, the country John Septimus Roe (1797-1878), the first surveyor ( Surveyor-General ) in Western Australia, for his services in setting up the Swan River Colony in 1829 under Captain James Stirling gave . It is not documented when the 40 hectare area on which Roe did not live himself was planted with vines and when it first produced a commercially usable wine yield. According to various sources, large parts of the terrain were still swampy bushland in the second half of the 19th century, which was unsuitable for viticulture. What is certain is that Roe named the land after Sandalford Priory in Berkshire , where his father was a pastor.
James Roe, the son of the Surveyor General, had a manor house built on the site in 1870, which he rented to a "farmer"; he had the property administered until his son Frederick Roe (grandson of the Surveyor General) moved there around 1900.
After John Frederick's death, the land was divided up and the estate changed hands several times. a. also to companies in the USA. With the fluctuations in ownership, there was a temporary decline in viticulture.
New impetus was set in 1972 when the then owners of Sandalford acquired around 200 hectares of land around 250 km south of the Swan Valley on the Margaret River . In doing so, they contributed significantly to the development of the coastal plains on both sides of the river as a wine-growing area, on which there were only 4 smaller estates at that time. Viticulture in this moderately cool climate zone soon outstripped the importance of the historic Sandalford core region on the Swan River, which is only 22 hectares in size, where summers can get very hot and artificial irrigation is necessary.
Since 1991 the winery with Peter and Debra Prendiville from Perth has been privately owned again. The new owners renovated the production facilities and the wine cellar according to contemporary standards, set up a restaurant and developed the sales and marketing concept that was decisive at the beginning of the 21st century. Under her aegis, Sandalford, in collaboration with Paul Boulden, a renowned winemaker and oenologist from South Australia, became a priority destination for international wine tourism in Western Australia.
The annual production capacity reaches 1 million liters in French and American oak barrels in a cellar area of 600 m². Sandalford wines are sold throughout Australia and 40 countries on other continents (particularly Europe and America).
Sandalford wines today
Sandalford wines are marketed in three in-house quality and price categories. Sandalford only maintains 22 hectares of vineyards in the core region on the Swan River, but more than 10 times as much on the Margaret River.
- Element Range wines come largely from the core region in the Swan Valley; however, this origin is not guaranteed if Western Australia is noted on the label. For wines with the origin "Margaret River", according to the Australian wine law, at least 80% of the grapes used must actually come from the Margaret River. Element Range wines are advertised as "wines for every day" and represent the lower price range; typical grape varieties are Chardonnay , Riesling and a mixture typical of the region ( Classic with Chenin Blanc , Verdelho and Semillon ) among the white wines; Shiraz , Cabernet Sauvignon and a mixture of both grape varieties dominate the red wines.
- Wines classified as Protégé are certified in-house to be of higher quality; they are assigned to the middle price segment. Most of these wines come from the Margaret River.
- According to the company, the premium range wines, which are located in the high-price segment, come “exclusively from Margaret River”, which, according to the Australian wine law, means: 20% admixtures from other growing regions are generally allowed. With these wines, Sandalford guarantees that the winemakers take particular care in the cultivation and production methods, for example aging in French and American oak barrels. Chardonnay and Cabernet-Sauvignon dominate, but also grape blends (e.g. Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon) are in the range in this price range.
Under the name Prendiville Reserve , the owners also bring out a Cabernet Sauvignons from certain areas on the Margaret River under their own name, which must have matured in French barriques for at least 2 years .
Between 2001 and 2005, 20 Sandalford wines in all price categories - including Element - were awarded prizes in all Australian, Western Australian and Tasmanian wine competitions (so-called Wine Shows ).
tourism
A guided tour with wine tasting at Sandalford is one of the main attractions of international wine tourism in Western Australia. Bookable daily from Perth is the so-called Wine Cruise , an excursion boat trip on the Swan River into the Swan Valley with a visit to the largest wineries in the region, usually Houghton and Sandalford. Sandalford has a tourist wine sales point with overseas export organization.
Local customers usually take advantage of offers for trips with the hotel's own excursion boat, the organization of weddings and family celebrations, concerts, art exhibitions and other events in connection with wine seminars.