Four Queanbeyan families join forces to buy Lake George Winery

A consortium of Queanbeyan families who saw Lake George Winery for sale on Facebook less than a week before auction are now its proud owners.

Jag, Amardeep, Avtar and Sarabjit Singh are the new owners of the 276-acre property, with a successful bid of $4.55 million at auction on Sunday. The cool climate winery comes with a restaurant, cellar door, wedding venue, working winery and seven luxury Airbnb venues.

The new owners already own businesses in the accommodation and hospitality industries: Jag Singh is the owner of Hamilton’s Motel, on Tharwa Road, while Amardeep owns Queanbeyan Punjabi Hut.

Consortium spokesperson Jag Singh described the purchase as “exciting”.

“We had been looking for a property like this and then we saw it advertised a week before the auction,” Jag said.

“We spent the entire week last week together working out if it was the right investment, doing projections, and we decided it was perfect.”

Jag said the new owners will maintain the “hugely popular and award-winning” team at the winery, and look to extend the capacity of the winery’s main wedding venue – Westering – to around 400.

“Destination weddings for people from Sydney and right across the country will be a big focus,” he said.

“We want to increase the capacity of the accommodation as well so we can host bigger weddings.

“We of course will honour the current bookings at the venue and would encourage everyone considering the winery to book in as soon as they can.

“We will carry forward the legacy of the winery and want to say a huge thank you to Sarah for building it into the iconic venue it is today.”

It was a big day for the winery, with 60 people on-site to watch the bidding, while a Canberra Swing Dancing event took place at Westering.

The sale of the winery was the culmination of a seven-week marketing and sales campaign, which saw the property marketed heavily in Sydney and across the Southern Highlands. Around 55 interested parties inspected the winery in the lead-up to the auction.

Outgoing winery owner Sarah McDougall, who watched the auction from the deck of her home with a glass of sauvignon blanc in hand, described the sale as “bittersweet”. Her husband Anthony passed away almost 12 months ago and was a well-known face of the winery.

“Anthony and I had a five-year vision and we exceeded what we had planned over those years,” Sarah said.

“It will be a 120-day settlement so business as usual till December, when there will be a seamless handover.”

Sarah will continue to produce her own wine, as well as continue in her role as a sought-after marketer and consultant to a number of tourism bodies.

“I’m working on a few things including continuing distilling and staying in the wine industry,” she said.

“I’m on the board of Destination New South Wales Southern, and I’ve got a few exciting trips booked.

"We've made some incredible memories but it's time for something new."