Accolade Wines will sell two of its wineries and relocate production of Petaluma, Croser and Grant Burge portfolios to its Tintara and St Hallett wineries.
Accolade Wines CEO Robert Foye said it was the result of a company-wide assessment to ensure it had the capacity for growth and was sustainable.
Petaluma and Croser have reached capacity at Woodside Estate, Foye said, prompting the decision to sell the facility and transfer the brands to “the spiritual home of Accolade Wines and our state-of-the-art facility at Tintara”.
The company has invested around $16 million in Tintara over recent years.
Foye said: “With a long history of Adelaide Hills winemaking, Tintara has a phenomenal barrel cellar, amazing winemakers and a sizeable site that can accommodate all fruit from the Petaluma and Croser vineyards and family of grower vineyards. It will enable us to produce even more quality Petaluma wine that people have come to know and love.
The company will search for a new location for the Petaluma Cellar Door, which will keep trading in its current location until sold. Its vineyards in Summertown and Mount Barker will be retained.
Its white wine winery Krondorf will also be sold. Foye said: “We do not have enough white wine grapes that require processing in the Barossa to maximise the capability and size of the Krondorf winery. We are selling this facility so that a potential buyer can more efficiently leverage its strong white wine making capabilities. Our Grant Burge white wine grapes will be processed at our Tintara and St Hallett wineries in vintage 2021 onwards.”
Global chief marketing office Sandy Mayo told Food & Drink Business it was an exciting time for the business. “We’re making these changes to facilitate the growth of our brands. We started the review process about six months ago because we outgrew Woodside and were looking to what Accolade will look like in three to five years,” Mayo said.
Mayo said the company’s decision was not prompted by recent tariff increases imposed by China. “We have a business based in China – but we’re also strong in the rest of the region and already had really strong growth plans in other parts of the world, so we are shifting our focus to those regions.”
The company’s US market is relatively new, having appointed in May Quintessential – a family owned-and-operated import, marketing and sales company headquartered in Napa, California – to represent some of its iconic brands in the US.
Under the partnership, Quintessential will initially represent flagship Accolade brands including Hardys, Grant Burge and St Hallett from Australia, Mud House and Hay Maker from New Zealand, the Italian Prosecco Da Luca, Stone’s Ginger Wine, and the Echo Falls Fruit Fusions range.
Accolade has also established its own team in the US. Its Americas managing director Enrique Morgan heads up a team responsible for growth of its Australian, New Zealand, Italian and Chilean portfolio across all the Americas (Canada, U.S., LATAM).
Foye said Morgan had more than 18 years of sales and GM experience in the wine business across the Americas, including long stints with Gallo, Constellation Brands and Treasury Wine Estates. Before joining Accolade Wines, he was GM Latin America, Florida and South Carolina, for Treasury Wine Estates.
Mayo said: “Premiumisation is driving wine growth in most markets and is absolutely the case for us, but we have a broad portfolio which allows us to play at various price points.”
The portfolio will be led by Hardys, one of Australia’s the first wineries, established in 1853 by Thomas Hardy. Hardys has grown to the second most powerful Australian wine brand in the world and the number one imported wine brand in the UK, Mayo said.
“Hardys is our mainstay and will play a key role in every market we build,” Mayo said.
