Top SA wine brand crushed into retirement. A renowned McLaren Vale cellar door with a 150-year-old chapel is being taken over by a high-profile SA retirement business from the owners of Dan Murphy's. Oct 26, 2026, updated Oct 26, 2026 Chapel Hill's guest house in McLaren Vale. A leading South Australian retirement living company has bought McLaren Vale-based Chapel Hill's cellar door and vineyard as a leading national drinks giant restructures its business. Torrens Living- an arm of one of SA's top companies, Torrens Health - has bought the parcel of land from Endeavour Group including 40ha of vineyards and Chapel Hill's 150-year-old ironstone chapel that was being used as a wine tasting room. It will also take over the nearby chalet-style guest house with "sweeping views of the Onkaparinga Gorge and to the Gulf St Vincent" that is about a 10 minute drive to the central McLaren Vale township. While the price paid for the land was undisclosed, InDaily understands the sale was above valuation and has sought more details about plans for the site from its new owner. Torrens Living operates six retirement villages in metropolitan Adelaide, including at Aldinga Beach, Old Reynella and Everard Park. Torrens Living managing director Joel Hepburn-Brown said the company intended to keep the vines, contract a winemaker to use the winemaking facilities, and continue to host weddings, events and the guest house. "We know how much this property means to McLaren Vale, and we feel the responsibility that comes with it," Hepburn-Brown said. "We want to help reinvigorate tourism, events and employment in McLaren Vale, and give visitors more reasons to experience the region. "We'll share more about our plans when we're ready." The grapes will be used to make wine at Barossa Valley-based Dorrien Estate, and Endeavour Group has kept viticulturist Rachel Steer on to manage the vines and grape quality. Steer was previously assistant vineyard manager at Chapel Hill, working with then-winemaker Pam Dunsford, one of the most famous female winemakers in Australia. Chapel Hill is revered for its flagship Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon, which have also won a series of Gold medals in prestigious international competitions. Its first wines were made from grapes grown in paddocks surrounding the chapel in 1975, and a decade later it was exclusively owned by Adelaide's well-known Gerard family, who employed award-winning winemaker Dunsford. As part of that restructure, Endeavour also announced the sale of vineyards and cellar doors at Riddoch Coonawarra and Krondorf Barossa. The company planned to slash its grape production by more than 80 per cent in a bid to reduce investments in its grape growing portfolio, it said in a statement. The most recent chief winemaker at Chapel Hill was Michael Fragos, who worked at the label for 22 years. He was out of a job when Endeavour Group decided to close the cellar door in June, but recently was named CEO and chief winemaker of McLaren Vale winery Haselgrove.

Endeavour launches AI-powered shopper data platform for suppliers. Sept. 23, 2026 By Cody Profaca Endeavour Group has partnered with Woolworths-backed AI and data analytics company Quantium to launch new shopper data platform Distilled Data. The first-of-its-kind service combines retail sales data and shopper insights into a single unified engine, providing trade partners with access to store-level trends to help guide innovation, ranging, and localised forecasting. Australian drinks suppliers of all sizes will have access to insights from the 288 Dan Murphy's and 1,451 BWS stores nationwide, with the platform leaning on Endeavour's large loyalty database, which spans more than 10 million customers across the two banner groups. Distilled Data follows a similar data-led model to Woolworths Group, Quantium's majority stakeholder and former owner of Endeavour Group until 2021, which uses Everyday Rewards data to inform store layouts, pricing, product ranging and promotions. Announcing the new revenue stream, Endeavour Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said: "Trade partners are the lifeblood of our business, but every product needs to justify its shelf space. By providing access to these rich shopper insights down to the suburb level, we are giving producers the exact tools needed to understand what resonates, sharpen promotions, and deliver value for customers." Distilled Data will offer a scalable tiered model for trade partners of all sizes, ranging from streamlined metric scorecards for smaller producers to advanced regional category analytics. Its findings will build on broader market insights from Endeavour's State of the Hops and State of the Grapes reports, and can be tailored to the needs of each supplier. Hrdlicka said the service responds to rapid changes in the Australian drinks market, with many current top-selling products non-existent just three years ago. "We are customer-led and data-driven. Opening direct access to deep shopper analytics is the single best way to drive mutual growth, foster agility, and bring positive innovation back to the Australian beverage sector," she said. The Distilled Data platform is centred on Quantium's Q.Checkout AI technology and, according to Global Head of Retail & Consumer Kylie Gleeson, is "arguably the most transformative insights platform the drinks industry has seen in decades." Gleeson continued: "Ask a business question in natural language and it automatically runs the analytics, draws out the key conclusions and recommends actions, in minutes. For the first time, a two-person craft distillery has the same analytical firepower as a national brewer." Quantium's new partnership with Endeavour Group builds on its 10-year Woolworths partnership, with the Sydney-based global data and AI business also working with Big W, ebay, ASDA, and Walmart. Share the content

Endeavour Group and Quantium launch AI insights engine for drinks industry. September 23, 2026 Endeavour Group, Australia's "leading" drinks and hospitality business, and data and AI leader, Quantium have launched a "first-of-its-kind" shopper data platform, combining retail sales and aggregated shopper insights across Dan Murphy's and BWS into a single unified engine. Distilled Data, powered by Quantium Q.Checkout AI sets a new benchmark for best-practice retailing by providing trade partners with direct access to store-level shopper habits to inform product innovation, ranging, and localised demand forecasting. Endeavour Group CEO and Managing Director Jayne Hrdlicka said: "We are customer-led and data-driven. Opening direct access to deep shopper analytics is the single best way to drive mutual growth, foster agility, and bring positive innovation back to the Australian beverage sector." With consumer tastes evolving rapidly - and many top-selling products non-existent just three years ago - Distilled Data connects trade partners to real-time shopper behaviour across more than 1700 stores to accelerate innovation pipelines and spot market white spaces. "Our trade partners are the lifeblood of our business, but every product needs to justify its shelf space. By providing access to these rich shopper insights down to the suburb level, we are giving producers the exact tools needed to understand what resonates, sharpen promotions, and deliver value for customers," said Ms Hrdlicka. Quantium Group Executive and Global Head of Retail & Consumer Kylie Gleeson said: "Distilled Data, powered by Q. Checkout AI is arguably the most transformative insights platform the drinks industry has seen in decades. Ask a business question in natural language and it automatically runs the analytics, draws out the key conclusions and recommends actions, in minutes. For the first time, a two-person craft distillery has the same analytical firepower as a national brewer." Building on macro insights from Endeavour's State of the Hops and State of the Grapes reports, Distilled Data offers a scalable tiered model for trade partners of all sizes - ranging from streamlined metric scorecards for smaller producers to advanced regional category analytics. Trade partners will begin accessing the platform from October 2026, supported by dedicated onboarding and category management training.