Who owns fine wine partners

The latest digital edition can be found here. Job Opportunity. Drinks Industry Recruitment For more information about recruitment advertising online or within Drinks Retailing News magazine please contact: Erica Stuart on email erica. International Beer Challenge. Financing Rounds 3. Formerly Known As.

Distinguished Vineyards. Ownership Status. Financing Status. Private Equity-Backed. Primary Industry. Other Industries. Accolade Wines. Primary Office. What you see here scratches the surface Request a free trial. Want to dig into this profile? Request a free trial. Lion chief executive Stuart Irvine said on Monday that the size and the fixed cost base of the Australian wine business meant that it didn't stack up on a return on investment basis compared with other opportunities in beer and cider where Lion has a much bigger business.

Mr East knows the business intimately, because he was a former managing director of Fine Wine Partners earlier in his career. It has a large commercial wine operation at the lower end of the market, and has made several acquisitions in the past five years at the premium end of the sector to rebalance its portfolio. The sale of Fine Wine Partners brings six fully-owned brands into Accolade's stable.

Fine Wine Partners also distributes a range of other brands on behalf of other small wine companies including Pikes, Henschke, Phillip Shaw and Bollinger. Both companies have agreed on a six-month transition arrangement to allow a smooth handover should any of those smaller operators seek a change in distribution arrangements.

The sale brings to an end a costly foray for the two big players in Australian beer who bought up wine companies in the past two decades. Foster's, which is now part of the global Anheuser Busch-Inbev conglomerate, was the most aggressive in expanding into wine but struggled to deliver decent returns with a wine and beer business under the same roof. Foster's split off Treasury Wine Estates into a standalone wine company in and after some early wobbles it has been a strong performer as a solo operator since early when new chief executive Mike Clarke took over.