Love a nice drop? This world famous SA winery is for you

Tom Bowden

First published 17 November 2020, 10:41am

Winemaker Dave Palmer inspects his grapes at Skillogalee, Trevarrick Road, Sevenhill. Pic: JOHN BOWDEN

It has been one of the crowning jewels of the Clare Valley region for more than 40 years, and now the world-famous Skillogalee at Sevenhill can be yours.

Dave and Diana Palmer bought the 124.2ha winery and vineyard on Trevarrick Rd in 1989, and have since developed it into a world-class tourism and food and wine experience.

“We were new Australians – we’d arrived in Canberra and had both decided we wanted to do something different from what we had been doing and through our friends, the family who owned it, we discovered a liking for Skillogalee and for some strange reason decided to buy it,” Mr Palmer said.

“We knew nothing about growing grapes or making wine.

“The grapes were planted in 1970 – at that stage it was the highest vineyard in South Australia and the pundits all said the then owners were mad to plant grapes there – with the first vintage being in 1976.

“We had the cellar door for a year before my wife established the restaurant and the restaurant’s been open 364 days a year for 30 years.”

Mr Palmer said the vineyard’s geographic location was instrumental in it producing quality grapes.

Skillogalee, Trevarrick Road, Sevenhill. Pics: JOHN BOWDEN

Skillogalee, Trevarrick Road, Sevenhill. Pics: JOHN BOWDEN

“We’re 450 to 500m above sea level, it’s a long way from the coast, it gets very early onset of cool autumn nights and that really helps for the production of good ripe flavours in all of the varieties we grow,” he said.

“Flavour depends on time on the vine and the microclimate produces good flavours without getting high alcohol levels and losing natural acidity, so they have a nice freshness and elegance on the palette which makes them very food-friendly.

“It’s always produced good fruit – in it’s third vintage, 1978, it won the Adelaide Wine Show trophy for the best dry white and also won the best dry wine in the national wine show that year, and more recently under our stewardship the 2010 riesling beat 147 other Australian and New Zealand rieslings in the UK Decanter World Wine Awards.”

Skillogalee, Trevarrick Road, Sevenhill. Pics: JOHN BOWDEN

Skillogalee, Trevarrick Road, Sevenhill. Pics: JOHN BOWDEN

The sale – through Ray White Rural’s Daniel Schell and Nedd Golding – includes 124.2ha of land including 51ha of premium shiraz, riesling, cabert traminer, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec, muscat and grenache.

It also includes winery plant and equipment, an award-winning restaurant and cellar door and commercial kitchen, an owner/manager’s house with an inground swimming pool, a 51.59mL water licence, three bed and breakfast properties and the renowned Skillogalee brand and intellectual property.