THE new owner of the iconic Mount Pleasant winery, vineyards and brand, the Medich Family Office investment company, is no stranger to major investment in the Hunter Valley.
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The Medich group, headed by chairman Roy Medich OAM and his son Anthony as CEO, produces beef, chickens, eggs, fruit and vegetables and honey in the Hunter under the Hunter Farm Collective operation and has developed the Branxton Radford Park and Lower Belford Murray's Rise housing estates.
The purchase coincided last week with the takeover of the rest of the under-administration McWilliam's wine group by the expansive Riverina and Barossa Valley winemaker Calabria Family Wines.
In a deal set to be completed by April 30, the Mediches will become custodians of Mount Pleasant cellar door, 800-tonne-capacity Marrowbone Rd, Pokolbin, winery and some of Australia's greatest vineyards. They include those at Lovedale and Rosehill and the Old Hill - planted in 1880 on the Marrowbone Rd site by pioneer settler Charles King.
Hunter hopes are high that the Medich group will retain all the Mount Pleasant staff and maintain the exemplary quality of the wines, demonstrated by chief winemaker-general manager Adrian Sparks being crowned Winemaker of the Year at the 2019 Hunter Valley Wine Industry Awards.
Medich directors haven't made themselves available for interview, but the family's remarkable 97-year history in Australian farming, cinema operation, hotels, shopping centres and property development is outlined on its website.
The saga began with Maté Medich migrating from a village on the Dalmatian coast (now Croatia) and establishing a sugar cane farm at Innisfail, Queensland.
Maté's sons Peter and Lubo worked in the farm business up to the early 1950s and then moved their families to Sydney and began running cinemas at Cabramatta and Chester Hill and a drive-in at Liverpool and later investing in hotels followed by film production, farming, horse racing and property.
On Peter and Lubo's deaths the business empire was divided between their respective sons, with Peter's sons Roy and Ron combining in the Medich Property Group's investments in shopping plaza and housing and industrial developments.
Roy and Ron split the company in 1999 to run their own independent businesses.
Roy set up with son Anthony the Medich Family Office investment company, which has invested in the Hunter in housing estates, farming and beef cattle grazing.
