An iconic winery where Dame Nellie Melba took a bath in bubbly and which author Mark Twain visited is set to shut.
Wine supplier Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is moving to close its famous Great Western winery in Victoria and its Matua Auckland winery in New Zealand, placing dozens of jobs at risk.
The Great Western winery, founded in 1865 at the town of the same name, predominantly produces TWE's well-known Seppelt brand.
TWE, whose other brands include Penfold's, Wolfblass, Wynns and Lindeman's, says the move to cease production at Great Western and Matua are part of a restructure of its global business.
TWE intends to cease production at Great Western, which employs 30 staff, and will consider options for the facility, including a potential sale.
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TWE will still take grapes from the Great Western region, but the Seppelt brand will be made at a different winery.
"The size and location of the Great Western winery means it is both under-utilised and increasingly non-viable as a production facility, so we are ceasing operations and moving production into other wineries in TWE's Australian wine production network in order to reduce costs and remove unnecessary complexity," TWE said on Thursday.
The winery is expected to take several months to cease all operations.
It was founded by Joseph Best in 1865 and acquired by Benno Seppelt in 1918.
Gold miners dug 3km of underground cellars that became known as "Drives".
In 1890, the winery started making sparkling wines, which gained great popularity and success in shows under the Great Western label from the 1940s to 1960s.
Opera singer Dame Nellie Melba is said to have indulged in a champagne bath at the winery in the 1890s and writer Mark Twain visited the winery in that decade.
A TWE spokeswoman said it was not yet known if all staff at Great Western would be impacted.
Grape crushing had ceased but there was still wine in tanks there.
"It will take us several months to move that wine out, so we don't actually have a specific date (for closure)," the spokeswoman said.
Seppelt's current sparkling wines include Fleur de Lys, Salinger, and Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz.
Non-vintage Great Western sparkling wine hasn't been produced for some years.
The Great Western winery also makes table wines for Seppelt, including the flagship St Peters Shiraz and Mt Ida Shiraz.
In 1900, Seppelt was the largest wine company in Australia, and in 1982 became the biggest wine brand in the country.
Shares in Treasury Wine fell four cents to $7.14.
