Christine Caudo thought punters would stop arriving at the cellar door after seeing media stories about its closing due to floods last October, but the phone calls and visitors trying to find the Cadell venue keep coming.

“The grounds are destroyed, the cellar door was flooded completely and the rebuild would take a couple of years so the family has decided it will stay closed,” Caudo says, adding that it was necessary to add a definitive message to supporters.

“Everywhere the public would be, parts of it were under seven metres of water and it’s in a destroyed state.

“It won’t feel the same; we want people to think it was beautiful, beautiful grounds, beautiful sunshine, beautiful staff.”

Around 20 staff lost their jobs when the family was forced to close the cellar door, but Caudo says they found new positions quickly and the vineyards planted higher up were all fine.

Events including the famed True Grit held each year will still be staged at the vineyards, while all of the Caudo Vineyard wines and sangria that will continue to be produced can be purchased online.

The post announced on the business’s Facebook page yesterday has already attracted more than 750 comments.

Caudo’s cellar door before it was destroyed by River Murray flooding. Photo: Caudo Vineyard

“I’m sitting in the office and all I can hear is ping, ping, ping,” Caudo says.

“Now it’s making me feel a bit sad…. I can’t believe the numbers of people commenting when you look at it.”

Some of those commenting talked about holding 60^th birthdays at Caudo’s, others spending “the best Summer of my life” working at the cellar door or tying houseboats out the front.

“I did say to my husband (Joe) we have not experienced a natural disaster,” Caudo says.

“And it was absolutely spectacular. We managed to just save our house – that nearly went under as well – but then we enjoyed the beauty of the flood because it was majestic, it was just beautiful.”