Images: Bellwether Wines.
Three months after the company behind Bellwether Wines entered liquidation, Sue Bell is doing something she never imagined she would have to do: buying back the wine and equipment that was once hers.
It comes after Glen Roy Winemakers Pty Ltd, the company that traded as Bellwether Wines, went into liquidation in May this year. What followed was months of financial pressure and an extraordinary campaign in which customers and people across the Australian wine industry rallied around Bell to help keep the business afloat.
A licensing arrangement allowed Bell to continue operating the Bellwether business while the liquidator considered its options. At the time, the winery continued to welcome campers and visitors, although Bell was unable to sell wine while she waited for a new liquor licence.
Now that licence has arrived.
Bell is continuing to make wine and progressively buying stock from the liquidator, while working towards securing the equipment needed to keep her Coonawarra operation moving.
“You end up having to buy back what was yours,” Bell said.
“Once you get your head around that, then you just put your head down and work through it,” she said.
“There’s still some way to go.”
Bellwether began in 2009 inside the historic Glen Roy Shearing Shed, a place she has gradually turned into a distinctly Sue Bell combination of wine, food, gardening, history, art, music, camping and long lunches.
“I want to make a good product that respects the place that I get fruit from and provide a nice, warm, cosy environment for people when they come here.”
It is a deceptively simple ambition, and also the reason she is still fighting for it.
“I love doing this and I want to survive.”
Bellwether’s annual Sips in the Sticks returns to the historic 1868 Glen Roy Shearing Shed on Sunday, August 23, and this year’s is theme is Surviving and Thriving.
The $185 long lunch will bring together Bell and fellow winemakers Corrina Wright of Oliver’s Taranga, Kate Goodman of Penley Estate, Guy Parkinson of Skillogallee, Dave Bowley of Vinteloper and Charlotte Hardy of Charlotte Dalton Wines, alongside chef Clare Falzon of Staguni.
“The winemakers are people who really stood up and helped me when the going got tough. I could have had a very long list of people, but I keep it to five other winemakers plus myself,” Bell said.
“They’re also people who have gone through challenges themselves.
“That’s often the way, isn’t it? When someone is in a rough spot, the people who recognise that are those who have been there in some way themselves.”
“No-one is doing it easy,” Bell says.
“Everyone helping each other out is really critical right now.”
It is a particularly pertinent observation for South Australia’s wine industry, which has spent recent years navigating oversupply, changing consumer habits, rising costs and difficult trading conditions.
And with Bellwether Winery opening this September after its usual August hiatus, Bell says the message is simple: keep going, keep making good wine, and keep looking out for the people around you.
To find out more about Bellwether Wines, click here.
Sips in the Sticks at Bellwether Wines
When: Sunday, 23 August 12pm to 4pm
Where: Glen Roy Shearing Shed, 14183 Ridoch Highway, Coonawarra
Tickets: Click here
