Winery vandals attacked the Riverland Vintners winery at Monash
The Riverland Vintners winery at Monash was the vandals' target
(Image credit: South Australian Wine Group)

More than 1.5m bottles-worth of wine has been drained from winery vats in South Australia in an apparent act of vandalism.

Police in the South Australia’s Riverland region appealed to the public for help after the winery vandals attacked vats and allowed 1.2m litres of red wine to gush on to the ground. That is equivalent to 1.6m bottles of wine.

A smell of fermented grapes filled the air around the Riverland Vintners winery at Monash, according to The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide.

The winery has been owned by South Australian Wine Group since 2013. It has a crushing capacity of 25,000 tonnes of grapes and can store up to 34m litres of wine.

It is not the first time that South Australia police have investigated crime at a winery.

Last year, South Australia police released CCTV footage purportedly showing burglars stealing bottles of wine from Cardinham Estate in Clare Valley.

Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.