A new outlet in Dunsborough is the first major public gesture by Singapore-owned wine player Overstory after its initial investment in the region six years ago.
Opened just days before Easter, Wayfinder is the inaugural physical retail outlet for Overstory, which has vineyards near Dunsborough and in northern Tasmania’s Tamar Valley.
The new townsite premises is described as a cellar door and restaurant for the nearby Wayfinder vineyard. Overstory intends to have retail options on that site, at the corner of Brockway and Clews roads in Cowaramup.
Overstory is a vertically integrated wine business with a sustainable production vision owned by Singapore-based couple Angus Davidson and Tracy Wong-Davidson.
It has links to two distribution businesses – Melbourne-based Small Story Merchants and Small Story Singapore – which offer products from a broader group of family-owned wine producers from around the world.
The enterprise started in 2018 with the $7.6 million acquisition of 104 hectares of land from interests associated with Stephen Palmer of Palmer Wines.
Now called Wayfinder, the vineyard had 48ha of vines dating back to 1994. It was converted to certified organic cultivation and some grape varieties were removed.
An additional 2ha of neighbouring land was purchased last year for $1.15 million.
The Wayfinder brand, and a second label from the vineyard, Swell Season, are being produced by a third-party winemaker until the group develops its own winery and cellar door.
Overstory has also acquired Goaty Hills Wines, a property near Launceston with 20ha of vines. It was renamed Small Wonder, converted to organic, and the winery has been built as the first step of developing the site.
Wine executive Paul McArdle heads the operation as chief executive, while the Wayfinder executive team includes winemaker Andrew Trio, vineyard manager Yann Vaucher and business manager Leah Clearwater.
Ms Clearwater said the decision to launch a Dunsborough cellar door came after it was decided the group needed a way to get its products in the hands of more people.
Other locations for an outlet and even pop-up versions were considered before settling on the existing site, which was previously occupied by a burger joint, although an earlier iteration as The Cape Wine Bar offers a nostalgic note for locals.
“It is really a hybrid,” Ms Clearwater told Business News.
“It’s not a wine bar; it’s a cellar door with a restaurant.”
While the concept of a cellar door in an urban or town environment is not unique, it is unusual.
In the Margaret River region, McHenry Hohnen has had a retail presence in Witchcliffe since 2021, with a wine bar and centralised cellar door for the three vineyards the group operates in the area.
Further east, at Mount Barker, Plantagenet has had a presence in the town since 1975 when founder Tony Smith converted an old apple packing shed on Albany Highway into a winery and cellar door.
Arguably, Stephen Palmer, from whom the Wayfinder vineyard was purchased, also adopted this model.
Palmer Wines sits on Caves Road, east of Dunsborough, taking advantage of the high-profile site significantly distant from competitors and its own vineyards.
The Davidsons’ acquisitions have been largely below the radar, but they do reflect growing overseas interest in the Margaret River region.
Most recently, Business News documented the addition of Aravina Estate to a growing local leisure and hospitality portfolio held by Indonesia’s second-richest person, Low Tuck Kwong, also known as TK Low, the founder and majority shareholder in major Indonesian mining company Bayan Resources.
Thought to be worth $30 billion, Mr Low’s Tengolf group owns golf courses including The Cut, in Dawesville, and the Graham Marsh-designed Secret Harbour Golf Links.
Last year, the group bought the 67ha Aravina property, including a 30ha vineyard, extensive buildings and development approval for 22 luxury villas, from resources contracting entrepreneur Steve Tobin for $14.7 million.
Another low-profile foreign investor in the area was the late John Streicker, a US property developer who paid $7.5 million for the 100ha Bridgelands vineyard in May 2003. He also bought the Yallingup Protea Farm around the same time.
In 2012, Mr Streicker purchased Clairaut, one of the earliest Margaret River wineries, and created the Clairault Streicker brand.
Mr Streicker died in 2022 and it is not known what his family’s plans are for Western Australia.
Last week it emerged the Bridgelands vineyard, which sits on a 207ha site, had been sold to an unidentified buyer for an undisclosed price.
