Accolade buys Mud House

Accolade wines has acquired two of New Zealand’s leading brands from the Mud House Wine Group.

The deal will see Accolade take control of Mud House and Waipara Hills as labels, as well as the café and cellar door sales at Waipara.

According to Australian title WBM, Accolade sees the brands as a “key part” of its global strategy, particularly when it comes to growing markets such as Europe, North America and Asia.

Accolade’s general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Michael East, said that the acquisition offered the company a, “fantastic opportunity.”

Mud House Wine Group chairman, Bob Major, said: “Accolade’s extensive international sales networks, as well as its experience marketing New World wines, would enable Mud House to grow production and sales much faster and more cost efficiently than we do currently.”

Click here for an interview by the drinks business from earlier this year with Mud House winemaker Nadine Worley, who outlined the company’s ongoing experiments with barrel fermentation and lees ageing for its Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, as well as some increasingly exciting results with Pinot Noir.