The former Contentious Character vineyard, cellar door and restaurant at Wamboin are now on the market. Photo: Monopole Group.
Former partners in the Contentious Character wine and food business have disputed how the Wamboin vineyard, cellar door and restaurant came to be put on the market.
Region reported last week that the property, which all four original partners own, was now in the hands of trustees after a NSW Supreme Court action to allow a sale.
Two partners, Ben Jarrett and Jeremy Wilson, are continuing the business after a restructure last year that saw the exit of Tony Mansfield and Ross Appleton.
But all four remained equal owners of the Wamboin property, separate from the business.
Mr Jarrett told Region that he and Mr Wilson were forced to go to the NSW Supreme Court when their former Contentious Character partners refused a buyout.
But Mr Mansfield told Region that it was he and Mr Appleton who initiated the sale via termination of their property agreement for their former partners’ breaches of contract.
“They did not force us to court, to force a sale … nor did we refuse a buyout,” he said.
“They refused to be bought out or to cooperate in a sale. We went willingly to court to finalise these matters.
“Mr Jarrett’s comments are a simplistic yet gross distortion of the facts. They are also a breach of ‘Without Prejudice’ negotiations, and as such should not have been aired publicly.”
Mr Mansfield said Contentious Character did not own the property, it was only ever a lessee, which never paid its rent.
He also challenged Mr Jarrett’s belief that a buyer could develop the land for housing because there was a similar development nearby.
“However, our zoning differs and subdivision of our property is not permitted,” he said.
Mr Mansfield said poor investment decisions had been at the heart of Contentious Character going into voluntary administration, not a perfect storm of bushfire smoke, the pandemic, the wine glut caused by the loss of the Chinese market and internal differences.
He said the Administrator’s Report stated: “My investigations into the affairs of the company support the company’s difficulties were brought about by over-investing in the company’s inventories without sufficient working capital or equity to fund such an investment, which I summarise as poor management of strategic decisions.”
Contentious Character still operated under the Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) supervised by the Administrator.
Mr Jarrett and Mr Wilson are refocusing Contentious Character as an urban winery at Dairy Road, sourcing grapes from other NSW vineyards.
The sale, handled by specialist agent Monopole Group, is via expression of interest. It closes at 5 pm on 10 December 2024.
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