MEDIA RELEASE 14 June 2023
From Jewellery to Wine - Karin Adcock's Transformation of Historic Hunter Vineyard Recognised as Winmark Wines Wins Cellar Door of the year & Shortlisted for Best New Winery by Halliday
One of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, the woman who brought PANDORA Jewellery to Australia, has transformed one of the Hunter Valley’s iconic and historic vineyards into one of Australia’s most superb wine tourism destinations.
Today her efforts have been recognised by one of the industry’s most respected critics, James Halliday, with the news that her prized winery has been Shortlisted for Best New Winery the winner of which will be revealed in the soon to be released 2024 Halliday Wine Companion.
To top off this week’s great news, Winmark Wines & Art Gallery has also been named 2023 Cellar Door of the Year at the Hunter Valley Wine Industry and Legends Awards, held last Thursday night. Winmark shone above all other 18 finalists to be presented the award sponsored by Wine Selectors which is determined by the results of a rigorous third-party secret-shopper style reviewing process.
Danish born Karin, has created a wine lover’s haven in the spectacular Broke Fordwich sub region of the Hunter Valley. Winmark Wines, formerly Pooles Rock, is a place where everyone from wine enthusiasts to art and nature lovers can gather.
The newly named Cellar Door of the Year facility open 7 days a week and includes an art gallery, gift store, immersive sculpture garden and walking tour, coffee cart and luxury accommodation. This recognition confirms that the transformation of this 50-year-old vineyard formerly known as Pooles Rock and owned by Macquarie Bank executive David Clarke is nothing short of incredible.
Multi-award-winning entrepreneur Karin Adcock created the PANDORA craze in Australia. Karin, first had to convince a very reluctant PANDORA to give her a chance with the brand. She won them over with her enthusiasm, charm and display of business nous and went on to apply these same skills to dominating the PANDORA brand worldwide.
She started the business in her Northern Beaches garage and doubled per capita sales of the second most successful PANDORA country, Britain, and made three times the sales per capita in the United States before selling it back to PANDORA in 2012.
Karin and a carefully curated team have spent the past seven years renovating and refurbishing the property from a dying vineyard to a thriving cellar door, and luxury accommodation, and has installed the region’s largest sculpture garden for all to enjoy. Recently an Art gallery and boutique has been added to the 7 day a week operation. She rescued the estate from a period of neglect and worked tirelessly to refurbish everything from its impoverished vines to the four luxury houses on site. The four houses can accommodate up to 18 single guests and 34 guests in total.
The three large luxury houses (plus one stylish tiny house) on the property are distinctive for both their generous proportions and for the fact that Karin has used her lifelong passion for interiors to create memorable and luxurious spaces that are full of treasures from around the world.
The revamped estate of 130 acres with 28 acres under premium chardonnay vines includes a number of Winmark landmarks. There is a monumental sculpture, Biosis, by award-winning sculptor David Ball, a stunning perennial and rose garden and gazebo by leading Australian garden designer Paul Bangay OAM, 3 pools and 2 tennis court, fire pits and barbeque area on the banks of a large dam, and an array of beautiful deciduous trees in the Tree Park.
Winmark Wines, in pretty Broke, which is framed by the ancient Brokenback and Hunter mountain ranges, boasts plenty of natural features too. These include the stunning Yellow Rock escarpment and Pooles Rock itself, named after the convict Richard Poole, who slept in the rock’s hollow in the early eighteen hundreds.
The Pooles Rock name was not sold with the property, so Karin decided to call it Winmark Wines which in Karin’s native Danish, “Vin mark” means “fields of wines”.
2023 is a landmark year for Winmark Wines, firstly with its official launch into the trade with representation by Young & Rashleigh’s Cuttings Wine Merchants, and now this recognition by Halliday and the Hunter Valley Wine & Tourism Association. Having taken several years to build up vine quality and the wine range, the range now consists of 4 incredible Chardonnays all 100% grown on the property and made by winemaker Xanthe Hatcher under the watchful eye of international winemaker John Belsham. The wines now adorn the wine lists of many great Sydney restaurants and as distribution continues to grow, so will the enjoyment of Chardonnay lovers around the world.
“Winning the trophy for the Best Young Chardonnay for our 2021 Winmark Reserve Chardonnay recently at the New South Wales Small Winemakers Wine Show was such a high for my new brand, but this week’s news from Halliday and recognition as Cellar Door of the Year really raises the bar for Winmark and puts it in amongst the top echelon of wine producers in Australia. Its such a joy to be recognised in such great company.” comments Karin Adcock.
“The Hunter Valley is home to some of the best Cellar Doors in Australia, so it’s such a huge honour to be named Cellar Door of The Year and we are so humbled by this recognition. We were certainly up against some very strong and much larger operators who have made their mark on the Hunter Valley for a long time. It’s a very hard award to win with the secret shopper style of appraisal, so we are beyond excited to have won!” adds Karin of their Hunter Valley Cellar Door of The Year win this week.
Winmark Wines & Art Gallery 229 Wollombi Road, Broke, New South Wales
The Cellar Door, Art Gallery, Boutique, Sculpture Garden, Coffee Cart & Sculpture Garden walks are open 7 days a week. Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm, Friday – Sunday 10am – 5pm
www.winmarkwines.com.au cellardoor@winmarkwines.com.au or phone (0429) 265 268
Follow Winmark Wines @winmarkwines facebook.com/winmarkwines
For further information, additional images or to arrange a visit or interview with Winmark Wines please contact Kylie White – White Ink Wine + Life kyliewhite@whiteink.com.au 0401 408 080
