A luxury house in Pokolbin built by Leogate Estate Wines founders Bill and Vicki Widin is eyeing a record price for the area.
If the eight-figure asking price is achieved, the 113-acre property on Broke Road will break the residential record for Pokolbin, held by the nearby Olio Mio Estate, which sold for $7.9 million in 2021.
The property was recently listed with Chilli Bromage of McGrath Cessnock who can provide a price guide on request.
Positioned on a hill directly above the Leogate winery, the main house has six bedrooms, an expansive open-plan living area, and an enclosed heated indoor swimming pool visible through internal glass from the dining room.
Designed with inspiration from the couple's previous home-building projects on the Gold Coast, the house features classical columns, a portico, decorative cornices, chandeliers and french doors framing vineyard views.
"My wife and I put a lot of time into it and, even now, we're quite happy with the way it turned out," Mr Widin said.
"We built it in 2016, and as the crow flies, it's about 400 metres away from the winery."
Inside, the house includes a sandstone fireplace, a billiard room and a home theatre.
At the centrepiece is an opulent kitchen with a butler's pantry and two large island benches built from timber and marble.
"We went to various parts of Asia to buy carved furniture, and my wife likes kitchens that are spread out, so the two island benches serve a larger house well by making it easier to entertain," Mr Widin said.
The main bedroom, which is positioned at the end of a private hall, has dual walk-in robes and a luxury ensuite with an expansive ornate mirror and freestanding bathtub.
A separate four-bedroom guesthouse provides additional accommodation.
Before making the move into winemaking, the couple spent three decades as Black Angus cattle producers at Middlebrook Park and other farms in Tamworth.
Vicki Widin also owned Heritage Furniture in Sydney, bringing a strong design eye to their residential builds.
"My wife got into the design side," Mr Widin said.
"We ended up with a mixture of columns and porticos on the Gold Coast, so when we built this house, we drew upon that style."
The 326-acre Leogate site, which was offered last year for sale in one line or separately across three lots (including the house), holds deep roots in Australian wine history.
The land includes the original Brokenback Vineyard, planted in the 1960s by a group led by wine industry legend Len Evans.
The Widins bought the site in 2008, taking over the historic vineyard and transforming the property into a major tourism destination with a cellar door, a fully equipped winery, a warehouse, a restaurant and 20 accommodation villas.
Under the proposed sale terms of the residential lot, Leogate intends to leaseback and maintain the established vines, which include shiraz and tempranillo, on the acreage.
"Either this property is sold standalone - meaning a family can live here, have the grapes taken care of, and earn a return - or a buyer can do what we have done and regard the house as part of the wine business," Mr Widin said.
Mr Widin said the couple is preparing to sell and settle into retirement in the Southern Highlands.
"I've long since stopped chasing cows, and even growing the grapes is getting a bit much for me," he said.
The listing is the latest chasing a high-value price in Pokolbin.
Top sales in the area include a 60-acre estate at 493 Marrowbone Road that settled for $7.225 million, the Constable Estate at 205 Gillards Road which fetched $7.5 million, and Loggerheads Estate, purchased in 2020 for $6.9 million by supermodel Miranda Kerr and Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel.
