Rare Yarra Valley winery with intriguing history up for sale
A sprawling homestead - complete with its very own winery - has hit the market for the first time in 40 years, and comes with owners with an unusual story.
Sitting on over 36 hectares in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, the Gracedale Hills Estate and accompanying Hill Paddock Winery first came to be in the late 1990’s, after a chance meeting between Australian wine writer and critic James Halliday and Dr Richard Gutch OAM, the man who delivered Olivia Newton-John.
As the doctor to Netwon-John’s mother, Irene, Dr Gutch brought the famed Aussie singer and actress into the world on September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, England.
Years later, he and his wife Verna purchased the property in Healesville, with the intention of retiring, from Newell Cowan, who established the neighbouring Eyton on Yarra and Rochford Wines.
At Eyton’s opening in 1996, Dr Gutch sat next to James Halliday, who advised him to plant vines on his estate.
“Because of the northeastern slope, James Halliday said: ‘You’ll never get a frost’, and we never have,” Penny Gutch, Richard and Verna’s daughter, said.
Ms Gutch, who turns 60 next year, has been managing her late father’s property with her husband Chris and said she has decided it’s time to sell.
Hill Paddock Winery produced its first wine in 2003 under the Gracedale Hills label, going on to release 100 cases of shiraz, chardonnay and rosé until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Now, the winery is leased under a ten-year agreement with well-known Yarra Valley winemaker Mac Forbes, where he produces the Gracedale Hills “Hills Paddock” wines and his own.
Ms Gutch said the new owner of the estate - about half of which is separately leased to farmers for animal grazing - could decide to get involved in the winery or let it operate under the lease.
But its farming and wine-making qualities aren’t the only highlights, with the three-bedroom house located on the estate boasting 360 degree views of Mt St Leonard and The Great Dividing Range.
Trevor Lavigne, an agent with Philip Webb Real Estate, said he had received inquiries about the estate from local, interstate and international buyers, and that it could be used as an Airbnb or developed further, pending council approval.
The estate has been listed with an asking price of $5.3-5.8 million, with private inspections available.
Images: Realestate.com.au