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Treasury consolidates US wineries
Treasury Wine Estates is consolidating its supply network in the USA in the wake of its acquisition of Diageo’s wine business.
The company, which is registered in Australia, announced a series of changes that will see winemaking consolidated in California, with its luxury wine production centred on the Beringer winery, and Paso Robles winery taking on its ‘masstige’ wine brands.
As a result of the changes, production at the Chateau St Jean winery in Sonoma Country will be discontinued, and moved to Beringer, although it will retain its hospitality and cellar door sales, and the Pacicines winery on the Central Coast will be sold, with production moving to Paso Robles.
TWE also said it would be divesting of a “small number of vineyards and land holdings”, but is set to ramp up investment in its wineries in the next two years.
Other changes include consolidating luxury winemaking at Sterling Vineyards and to focus on luxury wine at Beaulieu Vineyards.
The company said the initiatives would enable the brands recently acquired from Diageo to benefit from “the positive transformation already undertaken with the company’s established portfolio, and are consistent with strategic plans.”
In February, TWE reported profits of the overall business up 42% in the first half of the year, and named Bob Spooner as its new head of operations in the Americas. Spooner had joined the company in January 2015 as chief supply chain officer.
The Australian-based wine company announced the acquisition of Diageo’s wine business for £361m in October 2015, which CEO Michael Clark described as a “game-changer”. It included Diageo’s Chateaux & Estate Wine business in the US, whose brands include Beaulieu Vineyards, Sterling Vineyards, Acacia, Provenance and Hewitt, as well as the UK wine business, Percy Fox, including wine brands Blossom Hill and Piat d’Or. It US wine brands includes Beringer, Chateau St Jean and Stag’s Leap, alongside its Australian portfolio, which include Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Lindeman’s and Rosemount.