Accolade Wines

Accolade Wines is a major global wine business with operations in North America, UK, Ireland, mainland Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. It grew from Thomas Hardy and Sons, a company founded by Thomas Hardy in 1853 in Adelaide, to become Australia's largest winemaker. In January 2011 the company was sold, along with Constellation Europe, to the Australian private equity company CHAMP Private Equity and was renamed "Accolade Wines" on 27 June 2011.

Accolade Wines has evolved into a global wine company, selling some of the world’s best-known brands in over 80 countries, including Australia, UK, mainland Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and China.

The business is the largest wine company by volume in the UK and Australia, with a portfolio ranging from the historic Hardys (the number one Australian wine brand in the UK and a significant wine brand in mainland Europe), through to "Kumala", the UK's number two South African wine brand. The UK portfolio includes "Echo Falls", the third largest wine brand in the UK; Stowells, the number one wine brand in the on-premises trade; Banrock Station (Australia), the UK’s number one environmentally friendly/Green wine brand and South African wines Fish Hoek and Flagstone. The portfolio also includes other premium branded wines and a Wine Fusion portfolio including Stone’s Ginger Wine, Stone's 'Ginger Joe' alcoholic ginger beer and Babycham perry. The US portfolio includes Californian brands Geyser Peak, Atlas Peak and XYZin, drawing on the respected Sonoma and Atlas Peak regions. The Australian portfolio includes Hardys (the 175-year-old Houghton label), Banrock Station, Omni, Goundrey, Brookland Valley, Berri Estates, Stanley, Amberley, Moondah Brook, Leasingham, Tintara, the Tasmanian label Bay of Fires, as well as sparkling wine brands House of Arras and Yarra Burn.

Accolade Wines is headquartered at Chateau Reynella, Reynella, South Australia, and has offices in the UK in Weybridge and Bristol; in Australia in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne; in Singapore; in Stellenbosch, South Africa; as well as in Moscow, Warsaw, Shanghai, Beijing and California.

The company has more than 1700 employees in total in Australia, the UK, Europe, Asia, North America and South Africa.

History

Former Thomas Hardy & Sons Ltd Wine Cellars, 1893, at Mile End

At 20 years of age, Thomas Hardy arrived in South Australia after sailing from the English county of Devon in 1850. He spent three years working at Reynella Farm for John Reynell, as a gold miner in the Victorian goldfields and driving cattle. Hardy used the money he had earned to purchase a property on the banks of the River Torrens, which he named 'Bankside'.^[1]

Vines were planted on the Bankside property and as soon as they were bearing fruit, wine making commenced. The vineyard became so successful, with its wines sold both locally and in England, that Hardy was able to purchase the Tintara Vineyard Company in 1876.

Hardy steadily expanded the company over the years, purchasing a bottling plant at Mile End, champagne cellars on Currie Street in Adelaide, and a disused flour mill in McLaren Vale. The company established extensive vineyards in the Padthaway area in 1968. In 1976 Thomas Hardy & Sons made its first corporate acquisition by purchasing the London-based Emu Wine Company, which included Houghton (Western Australia's largest winery) and Morphett Vale. The company purchased Chateau Reynella in 1982, where Thomas Hardy had commenced his employment some 130 years before, and converted it to its headquarters.

Further expansion came in 1992, when Thomas Hardy & Sons merged with Berri Renmano Limited to form what then became Australia's second largest wine group, BRL Hardy Limited. In 2003, the brands of BRL Hardy and those of Constellation Brands were merged to create the world's largest international wine business.^[2] BRL Hardy Limited was renamed The Hardy Wine Company. In 2006 Constellation Brands acquired Vincor International, adding the West Australian brands of Amberley and Goundrey to the Hardy portfolio.

On 31 March 2008, The Hardy Wine Company changed its name to Constellation Wines Australia.

On 31 January 2011 Constellation Brands Inc divested 80% of Constellation Wines Australia along with its sister company, Constellation Europe, to the Australian private equity company, CHAMP. On 27 June 2011 Constellation Wines Australia and Constellation Europe were jointly renamed Accolade Wines. The company's 50% share in Matthew Clark was sold in October 2015.^[3][4]

In November 2016, the company acquired the Australian premium wine portfolio of beverage giant Lion.^[5][6]

In December 2016, the company's brokers were revealed to be preparing to float the company on the Australian Securities Exchange some time in the first half of 2017. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley held a roadshow for potential investors in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong. The initial public offering is expected to be worth more than $1 billion. CHAMP Private Equity reportedly wanted to exit after owning the majority of Accolade shares for six years.^[5]

Wine labels

• Amberley Estate
• Atlas Peak
• Banrock Station
• Bay of Fires
• Berri Estates
• Brookland Valley
• Da Luca
• Echo Falls - Now including their Fruit Fusion range released November 2015^[7]
• Fish Hoek
• Flagstone
• Goundrey
• Geyser Peak
• Grant Burger Wines (acquired in 2014)^[5]
• Hardys (multiple zones); eponymous label, named world's second strongest wine brand in 2008.^[8]
• Houghton
• House of Arras
• Jack Rabbit
• Kumala
• Leasingham
• Le Portail des Coteaux
• Moondah Brook
• Omni
• Sir James
• Stanley Wines
• Stones
• Stowell
• Renmano
• Reynella
• Ta Ku
• Tintara
• William Hardy
• Yarra Burn
• XYZin^[9]

See also

• Constellation Brands
• South Australian food and drink

References

External links

• Accolade Wines
• Constellation Brands

35°05′39″S 138°32′36″E / 35.094279°S 138.543356°E / -35.094279; 138.543356Coordinates: 35°05′39″S 138°32′36″E / 35.094279°S 138.543356°E / -35.094279; 138.543356