From October 8, Woodside Adelaide Hills, where Petaluma and Croser wines were previously made, will be in the hands of Torresan Estate, a third-generation South Australian family business which has taken over the property and its bottling facilities from Accolade Wines.

All winemaking of Petaluma and Croser has moved to Accolade Wines’ Tintara facility, while Torresan Estate, Adelaide Hills will continue to work with Accolade to bottle and mature two of its globally renowned brands, Croser and House of Arras at Woodside. The Petaluma brand will remain in the hands of Accolade Wines.

Torresan family spokesperson, Andrew Torresan, says the purchase will also provide Torresan Estate the opportunity to grow its business and support local South Australian winemakers to bottle sparkling wines using traditional methods.

“We are delighted with the acquisition and, as a family with a deep intergenerational engagement in the South Australian wine sector, we have a genuine appreciation of the Petaluma site and its place in the state’s winemaking heritage and history,” Torresan says.

“We are also looking forward to an ongoing relationship with Accolade Wines, a company with a strong tradition in this region and one recognised globally for fine wines from around the world.”

The Petaluma Winery Cellar Door will remain onsite for the long term as part of the transaction, and Torresan Estate is working closely and transparently with Accolade Wines and its employees in preparation for transition and handover.

CEO of Accolade Wines, Robert Foye says he is delighted to partner with a South Australian family business of the calibre of Torresan Estate, to continue to deliver some of the state’s finest wines to the world. 

“We have seen an increase in global demand for wines, including Petaluma and Croser, and we are working with our world-class winemakers and partners like Torresan to continue to support the growth of these brands,” Foye says. 

“We’re committed to South Australia and proud of our heritage in the region from McLaren Vale, the birthplace of Accolade Wines, to our state-of-the-art facilities in Tintara to the Barossa, Coonawarra and Adelaide Hills.

“In collaboration with Torresan Estate, we will continue operating the Petaluma Cellar Door from its current location, with further enhancement to customer experiences planned, and will retain our Adelaide Hills vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker.” 

The move represents an exciting expansion of the Torresan family business in bottling, packaging, and wine storage, and will open new opportunities for local winemakers to access the company’s expertise. 

“We see a real future for the Woodside site in contract packaging of sparkling wines, supporting the excellence and innovation of South Australian winemakers,” Torresan says.

For more information please contact: Andrew Torresan on tel: +61 8 83239500

Torresan Estate is now pleased to offer FREE Filterability Testing of all wines prior to dispatch from your winery. This is in addition to the current Filterability Testing that we conduct for all wines on arrival that require sterile filtration.

We are here to help you get a good understanding of the current filterability of your parcel of wine.

In the past, a general <0.6 NTU was considered an OK number to pass through sterile membranes. With experience and research, it appears that the NTU is a good indicator (of how clean is the wine) but isn't sufficient to interpret the filterability of the wine itself. This has been proven many times where we have seen wines <0.6 NTU still blocking our membranes, resulting in us having to backflush the filtration skid or the wine having to be refiltered with a further loss of product.

As it is impossible for us to know every component or wine additive being used of each wine and even less how those are going to react in front of our sterile membranes, we are now using filterability in conjunction with NTU to reduce the risk of blocking filters during bottling. A true representation of what your wine will pass through can only be done with a Filterability Test.

The Filterability Test we are now offering will give us a clearer picture prior to bottling of the behaviour of each of your wines going through our in-line membranes, and reducing the risk of blocking filters during bottling.

It is important to point out that the result of the Filterability Test isn't frozen in time. Wines can and will evolve in a really short period of time. Hence, we insist on having the Filterability Test done as close as possible to the bottling date.

With guidance from filtration specialists and suppliers, our current approach to results and further filtration can be seen on the table below.

Below are two charts indicating a Pass and Fail result from a Filterability Test.

For every test done each client will receive a full report and interpretation of this result.

For all results given out the Torresan team will be happy to discuss all decision making with planned operation of the incoming wines needs.

All we need is one 750ml bottle to conduct the Filterability Test.

We look forward to bottling your wines and are happy to discuss any queries you may have.

We are very excited to launch our NEW Website!

Torresan Estate is a family owned and operated winery located in McLaren Vale, South Australia.

Torresan Estate Contract Wine Bottling - specialists in contract wine bottling, packaging, Warehousing & wine analysis.

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