Contentious Character to sell Wamboin property to focus on urban winery plans at Dairy Road

The now vacant Wamboin vineyard and winery owned by the Contentious Character business is for sale as a result of a business restructure and a new strategic direction for the local winemaker.

The property is now in the hands of trustees Stephen Hundy and Christopher Darin of Worrells after owners Ben Jarrett and winemaker Jeremy Wilson were forced to go to the NSW Supreme Court when their former Contentious Character partners refused a buyout.

The property is on the market as a turnkey sale through specialist agents Monopole Group.

At Easter, Contentious Character moved its Wamboin cellar door to a new venue at the Dairy Road precinct in Fyshwick, an urban winery that is a combination of cafe, restaurant and wine bar.

Mr Jarrett said that was where the future of the business now lay.

Last December Contentious Character emerged from voluntary administration with a new financial structure that it hoped would sustain it into the future.

Two of the four partners bowed out, although they retained a share of the land that was separate from the business.

Tony Mansfield, Jeremy Wilson, Ben Jarrett and Ross Appleton bought the former Lambert Vineyards for $2,385,000 in 2016, but only Mr Wilson and Mr Jarrett remain with the business.

Contentious Character had to weather a perfect storm for the wine industry – bushfire smoke, the pandemic and the wine glut caused by the loss of the Chinese market. Internal differences didn’t help.

Mr Jarrett said the plan was for the Dairy Road concept to evolve into a fully integrated urban winery, continuing to source grapes from five other vineyards in NSW.

He said the Wamboin property was the smallest but most capital-intensive of the six Contentious Character vineyards, and it made sense to divest and channel the proceeds into the Dairy Road project.

“It’s more about being more conveniently located to our customers,” Mr Jarrett said.

In the short term, an outdoor dining precinct will be added to the current concept, but as the next stages of Molonglo Group’s planned development at Dairy Road proceed, Contentious Character intends to establish a bigger and more visible presence with a winery, cellar door, retail, a la carte dining, and events and function spaces.

Mr Jarrett said the business expected a good result from the sale because it was being sold as vacant possession, and Monopole would cast a wide net.

With a nearby housing development finalised, a buyer could also pursue a similar development possibility.

Mr Jarrett said it was unfortunate that there had to be court action to get the property to sale.

“Unfortunately, business partnerships don’t always work out, and at the end of the day, if there was commercial sense and logic, then we shouldn’t have had to go to the Supreme Court,” he said.

“We should have been able to get an agent appointed and a property sold without having to get a court to intervene to allow that to happen, but unfortunately, in these situations, sometimes emotion takes over the commercial reality.”

The Wamboin parcel consists of two adjoining properties totalling a little more than 24 hectares, an 8.2 ha vineyard, an 80-tonne winery, a cellar door and a 90-seat café/restaurant.

The vineyard is planted with multiple varieties – pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz.

The listing says the properties also include two residences, providing both owner’s and manager’s accommodation, holiday rentals, or homes for two separate families working in partnership or co-operatively on a new wine business.

The “beautifully finished” owner’s residence built in 2001 incorporates five bedrooms and two bathrooms, currently configured as three bedrooms and two studies with formal garden and vineyard views.

There is an additional granny flat adjacent to the owner’s residence.

The architecturally designed manager’s residence built in 2002 includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms, overlooking a landscaped garden including a dam with its own jetty.

The listing says the property is perfect for a young winemaker or two seeking to establish their brand with a physical presence close to both Canberra and Sydney.

Or it could be a perfectly situated, idyllic rural escape with income potential from multiple revenue streams.

The sale is through an Expressions of Interest process, closing at 5 pm on 10 December 2024.