The wine business goes on: Jackson Family invests again in Australia, acquiring Gian Step

Business in wine goes on, even in time of the pandemic. And it is news, in these hours, the move of one of the biggest wine realities in America, Jackson Family, which owns several estates in California and Oregon, but also in France and South Africa, in Italy (in Tenuta di Arceno, Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the heart of the Black Rooster. An estate with a total of 1,000 hectares, of which 90 are vineyards) and in Australia, where the Yangarra and Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard estates, in McLaren Vale, have just acquired Gian Step, one of Australia’s most respected wine growing brands, in the Yarra Valley, with 75 hectares of vineyards and two “monopoles”, the Sexton and Applejack vineyards. A winery best known for its monovarietal and “single vineyard” production, founded in 1997 by Phil Sexton, who will remain as general manager, as will winemaker Steve Flamsteed, and all long-term lease contracts for other vineyards will also be maintained.
“Our family is excited to be part of the Yarra Valley community and to help build on the incredible legacy of Phil Sexton and Steve Flamsteed”, said Christopher Jackson, owner of Jackson Family Wines, who added, “our dealings with Phil began before the pandemic. Although the global wine market has changed dramatically, this has not dampened our family’s enthusiasm for Giant Steps. This acquisition reflects our confidence not only in Australia’s wines, but in the global wine industry and people who share a long-term vision for the future”.
Reserved, of course, the terms of the deal, however significant, given the importance of the brand (especially in view of the Chinese market in which the wines of Australia are now leaders) and that the value of the vineyards in the Yarra Valley, according to estimates of 2018 of the Australian portal “Drinks Trade”, was around $ 100,000 per hectare.