Contract winemaker Winemasters SA has entered administration following an unsuccessful sales campaign.

Based in South Australia’s Riverland region, Winemasters SA was established in the late 1970s and offers specialist contract processing services under three streams: premium, organic and commercial wines.

It has a vintage processing capacity of more than 25,000 tonnes, with 35 million litres of storage capacity, making it one of Australia’s largest wine production sites.

The facility was placed on the market in September 2025 but failed to attract a buyer.

Formerly known as Riverland Vintners, it was acquired by David Harris and a syndicate of Hong Kong investors in 2014. It was a major supplier of bulk wine into the Chinese market until tariffs of up to 218.4% were imposed for almost three years on most Australian wine exporters.

Harris told the Daily Mail: “In November 2020, President Xi said he had enough of us all and it all stopped. We lost 85% of the business. 

“We never fully recovered. We had a good business before then. The Chinese came back but not the same as it was before. It’s mathematically impossible to put grapes into a winery and sell them as bulk wine and make a profit. The more you do it, the more you lose at the moment. 

“There’s a lot of fruit being bought for nothing that is flooding the market.”

Business turnaround specialist Eddie Griffith is working with Harris on a deed of company arrangement proposal – a creditor repayment plan – that would potentially see a group of new and existing investors acquire the site.

“The business has been on the market for approximately six months without generating reasonable third party interest,” Harris told The Australian.

“During that period it was mothballed, so there are no employees and no unpaid trade creditors. The appointment of voluntary administrators was undertaken to provide a structured process for creditors to consider a proposal.”

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is the largest creditor and is owed around $3.2 million, while the ATO is owed around $300,000, alongside what Griffith described as “significant related party loans”.