THE chronic wine grape oversupply has ended Lance Milne's dream of restoring one of Australia's most historic wineries to its original splendour.
The fourth-generation Sunraysia grape grower's decision to put Chateau Mildura up for sale has not come easily.
But it's the inevitable outcome of a downturn so severe it is reducing Sunraysia's economy to ruins.
Chateau Mildura was built in 1892 on the Irymple property of Sunraysia's irrigation pioneers, the Chaffey brothers, making it one of the most historically important properties of its kind in the country.
The property ended up in the hands of Foster's, which sold it to the Milnes in 2002 - a time when the dark clouds that have since descended on the industry were barely on the horizon.
The Milnes were intent on restoring this "unloved and largely unknown piece of Sunraysia's viticultural history" and turning it into one of Sunraysia's leading table wine producers.
And while the initial signs were good, with the Milnes winning a string of awards since their first vintage in 2005, Mr Milne said he could no longer afford to continue because of the money he was losing on his vineyard.
"If I could sell the vineyard for replacement value I would sell it instead of the winery," Mr Milne said.
"But you can't sell a vineyard period - people are just letting them die."
Mr Milne said he had spent $100,000 a year on temporary water to get through the drought for the past five years and had watched wine grapes returns fall below what it cost to grow them.
"I simply can't go on developing a new business when the returns from my vineyard are not meeting operating costs," he said.
Chateau Mildura is likely to go to auction in May or June but Mr Milne said he would consider any suitable offers in the meantime.
"We accumulate assets and investments in the good times and divest them when things get tough; the unfortunate thing is that so many of our rural assets at present are worthless," he said.
