Western Australia's first Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe founded the 40 hectare Estate in 1840, which now includes 22 hectares under vine as well as housing the Winery, hospitality and tourism facilities and administration. He named the property Sandalford after the priory in Berkshire where his father was rector. The Estate formed part of the second land title in all of Western Australia. Today's Sandalford, located on the original property, is one of Western Australia's oldest and largest privately owned wineries.
Sandalford Wines is unquestionably WA's leading Wine Tourism facility, recognised by multiple awards for the commitment to wine tourism. Sandalford's tourism hospitality facilities extend to the Margaret River Estate, set amongst beautiful garden setting and south-west bushland. This estate boasts a charming, rustic, rammed earth cellar, free picnic and BBQ facilities and of course, purchasing and sampling Sandalford's wines.
Sandalford hosts a range of indoor and outdoor events, from the popular wine maker's dinner to the pinnacle event, the Symphony at Sandalford. The annual Symphony at Sandalford boasts world class entertainment, showcasing major international acts teamed together with orchestral backing. Outdoor concerts exemplify the powerful combination of food, wine and music in the picturesque surroundings of one of the states oldest wineries.
In 1972 Sandalford developed a major vineyard in Margaret River. This coastal region in Western Australia's south-west is a premium Australian grape growing area and the Margaret River vineyard is Sandalford's largest source of grapes. This vineyard is now not only one of the oldest, but also one the largest, covering 600 acres. Sandalford's award-winning wines reflect contemporary wine making and include a Premium Collection and the popular Element Range. Recent modernisation increased Sandalford's capacity to almost one million litres in French and American Oak barrels and 600 square metres of underground storage. These state-of-the-art facilities permit custom requests of maturation stock.
After a brief period of overseas ownership, proprietors Peter and Debra Prendiville acquired the operation in 1991. An enthusiastic team of professionals are now actively managing an ongoing multi-million dollar redevelopment of both the winery and the vineyard. Under their guidance, Sandalford produces exceptional quality premium wines, available in more than 35 countries around the world and offers visitors to it's Swan Valley winery a world class wine tourism, hospitality and education facility.
Sandalford has made wines for over 150 years, changing their style and vinification in many ways. Winemaking however has been around for thousands of years so in some sense little has changed. Sandalford is Western Australia's first winery to utilise an artificial wetland concept for the treatment of all winery liquid waste. After treatment, the quality of this resource is such that it is used to irrigate the gardens and lawn areas which surround the winery environs. The system is licensed by the Department of Environmental Protection - Waters and Rivers Commission. Today the winery oversees two prestigious vineyards, one in the famed Wilyabrup region of Margaret River and the other in the Swan Valley. Nothing makes as much sense as aspiring to produce outstanding wine, achieving this goal must then be a source of enormous satisfaction. The wine making team at Sandalford should then be well satisfied with the unrelenting lineage of impressive releases.
Sandalford Wines now essentially produce three ranges of wine, the entry point Element range, the ever classic premium Sandalford range and the super premium Prendiville Reserve. All wines are made by the same exacting standards and attention to detail. Significant changes to the winery over the past ten years reflect modern practices, yet maintain the tradition and mystique behind the winemaking process. Whilst Sandalford use the latest equipment for processing fruit during vintage, Sandalford maintains small batch processing of all fruit and use only the top quality French and American small Oak barrels.
