Accolade Wines is an international wine business with headquarters in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

and corporate offices in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. It has been owned by

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...

, an American

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

company, since 2018. Accolade, which predominantly uses the Hardy's label, is one of the worlds largest winemakers, has more than 1700 employees around the world, with operations in

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, the

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, mainland Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and

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History

Accolade Wines traces its beginning to Thomas Hardy and Sons, a company founded in 1853 which grew to become Australia's largest winemaker. The company headquarters are in Old Reynella, South Australia. Thomas Hardy & Sons Wine Cellars, Mile End

Thomas Hardy & Sons Wine Cellars, Mile End

At 20 years of age,

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wor ...

arrived in

after sailing from the English county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

in 1850. He worked at Reynella Farm for John Reynell, then drove cattle to the Victorian goldfields. Hardy used the money he had earned to purchase a property on the banks of the

River Torrens The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

, which he named 'Bankside'. Shiraz and Grenache vines were planted on the Bankside property. Wine was sold locally and in England, and the profits enabled Hardy to buy the Tintara Vineyard Company about 1876. Hardy steadily expanded the company over the years, purchasing a bottling plant at Mile End, cellars on

Currie Street Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

McLaren Vale. In 1938, then chairman Tom Mayfield Hardy was killed in an aeroplane crash along with other leading South Australian winemakers. His cousin, Kenneth Hardy, became chairman. In 1968, the company established extensive vineyards in the Padthaway area. In 1976, Thomas Hardy and 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 Morphett Vale is a southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga. It is the largest suburb in the state, with a population of more than 23,000 and an area of 12.76 km2, followed by Paralowie with nearly 10,000 few ...

. In 1989 the company sold a portion of the Houghton Estate known as "Oakover Grounds" to a Swan Valley family. In 1982, the company purchased Chateau Reynella, where Thomas Hardy had first worked, 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. 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. In February 2011, Constellation Brands sold 80 per cent of Constellation Wines Australia, along with sister company Constellation Europe, to CHAMP Private Equity. Constellation Brands retained a 20 per cent stake in the newly named Accolade Wines. In October 2015, Accolade sold its 50 per cent share of British drinks distributor

Matthew Clark Matthew Clark is a United Kingdom-based drinks distributor, owned by C&C Group. Founded in 1810, the business primarily serves public houses, restaurants, bars and hotels within the mainland UK. History The company was formed in 1810 by Matt ...

. In November 2016, the company acquired the Australian premium wine portfolio (Fine Wine Partners) of beverage giant

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...

. In March 2017, CHAMP Private Equity scrapped its plans to float Accolade on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

. The decision was made after overtures from potential Chinese buyers, and a drop in the value of the British pound due to

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...

. Until 2018, the company was 80 per cent owned by the Australian

firm CHAMP Private Equity and 20 per cent owned by the United-States-based alcohol giant

Constellation Brands Constellation Brands, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is an American producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits. Constellation is the largest beer import company in the US, measured by sales, and has the third-largest market share (7.4 percen ...

. 100% of the company was sold to

in 2018. In October 2019, Accolade divested itself of the historic vineyards and buildings at the Houghton Estate in the Swan Valley to move production of Houghton Wines to its Nannup facility. The site was purchased by the Yukich family that had previously purchased the Oakover Grounds portion of the estate. The old Houghton site is now known as Nikola Estate.

Operations

Accolade Wines sells its products in over 80 countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Japan, China, and across Continental Europe. It has branch offices in the United Kingdom (Weybridge and Bristol), Australia (Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne), and South Africa (Stellenbosch), as well as in Moscow, Warsaw, Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing and California. The business is the largest wine company by volume and value in the United Kingdom and Ireland, a highly-competitive market with thin margins. Its popular brands there include: * Hardys, the number one Australian wine brand in the UK and a significant wine brand in mainland Europe, * Kumala, the UK's number one South African wine brand, * Echo Falls, the third largest wine brand in the UK, * Stowells, the number one wine brand in the UK on-premises trade, * Banrock Station, the UK's number one environmentally friendly wine brand, * Wine fusions such as Stone's Ginger Wine, Ginger Joe alcoholic ginger beer and Babycham perry, * Californian brands such as Geyser Peak, Atlas Peak and XYZin, drawing on the Sonoma and Atlas Peak regions. The

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

from October 2015 to August 2016 was Paul Schaafsma, who previously worked for Australian Vintage. From August 2016 to April 2017, the CEO was former APAC GM of Sales, Michael East. The current Chief Executive Officer is Robert Foye, who was named CEO 1 May 2020.

Wine labels / Brands

References

External links

Accolade WinesConstellation Brands
{{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Australian companies established in 1853 Food and drink companies established in 1853 Wineries in McLaren Vale The Carlyle Group

History

Operations

Wine labels / Brands

See also

References

External links