Knappstein in Clare Valley sold to Chinese interests as Accolade continues to sell assets
Accolade Wines has sold a Clare Valley winery and five vineyards to a company Chinese company, as its sale of Australian assets continues.
A Chinese company has bought the Knappstein winery and five vineyards in the Clare Valley as Accolade Wines continues to divest assets.
US private equity company Carlyle bought Accolade for $1 billion last year and the company recently sold the Stanley Winery near Mildura to Adelaide’s Duxton Vineyards.
Accolade said it had sold Knappstein to Australian Yinmore Wines, which was part of the China-based Yunnan Yinmore Group, which says on its website it turns over $US50 million a year and employs 500 people.
A search of company records shows the group also owns a vineyard at McLaren Flat.
Knappstein was established by Tim Knappstein in 1969 and is operated out of a former brewery building dating back to 1878.
Knappstein opened a microbrewery on-site in 2006, but the brewing division was later shut by Accolade after it bought the winery in 2016, which formed part of its deal to buy Lion’s Australian wine business Fine Wine Partners.
Knappstein produces three core wine ranges, selling 17,000 cases annually.
Accolade said the sale followed a strategic review of the Clare valley business.
“Under the terms of the agreement, Australian Yinmore Wines will acquire the Knappstein winemaking facility in Clare, five associated vineyards and the Knappstein label,’’ Accolade said in a statement.
“Accolade will continue to distribute the Knappstein range of wines until the new owners have determined their sales and marketing strategy.
“Excluded from the sale agreement are Accolade’s two remaining Clare Valley vineyards, over which it will retain ownership to ensure supply of prized riesling grapes to its Petaluma, Hardys and Leasingham brands.
“The sale follows Accolade’s review of its global operational footprint, undertaken to ensure the company is ideally positioned to meet the needs of customers, to adapt to changing market conditions and to take advantage of available opportunities.
“As part of the same review, Accolade is considering the potential sale of the Houghton winery in Western Australia’s Swan Valley. The Houghton sale process is continuing.’’
Reynella-based Accolade bills itself as “the number-one wine company in Australia and the UK by volume, and the fifth-largest wine company in the world’’.
The company said in March it was conducting a review of its “global business services” which would lead to some back-office functions being outsourced. The sale of the Stanley Winery to Duxton took place earlier this month,
Duxton was already a significant customer of the winery, and director Ed Peter said the company intended to continue to use it for wine production and storage.
Accolade said the company would transfer the production of the Stanley wine range to its Berri Winery.
The most recent financial report for Accolade Wines Holdings Australia shows the company made an operating profit of $1.59 million, on sales revenues of $572.8 million for 2017-18.
Once finance expenses and tax was factored in that dropped to a loss of $40.9 million.
cameron.england@news.com.au
