 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| ASX: TWE | |
| Industry | Winemaking |
| Predecessor | Foster's Group |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Key people | Tim Ford (CEO) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |
|
| |
Number of employees | 2500+ |
| Website | www.tweglobal.com |
Treasury Wine Estates is an Australian global winemaking and distribution business with headquarters in Melbourne. It was formerly the wine division of international brewing company Foster's Group. [1]
Treasury Wine Estates traces its roots back to the establishment of several New World wineries in the 19th century. These include Lindeman's and Penfolds in Australia, and Beringer Vineyards in the United States.
Foster's began to build its wine division from 1995 onwards. Through acquisition, it built the division into one of the world's largest winemakers. By 2005, Beringer Blass was the seventh largest producer of wine in the United States. [2] The same year, Fosters acquired the Australian wine-making group Southcorp, adding famous brands including Lindeman's, Penfolds and Rosemount, and around A$1 billion to revenues.[ citation needed ]
However, the wine division performed poorly, often draining cash from the highly profitable brewing business. In 2008, Foster's chief executive officer Trevor O'Hoy resigned. [3] By 2011, the company had written down the value of the wines division by half since it acquired it at the peak of the market, leaving it worth about A$3.1 billion. [4]
In 2022 it was ranked the largest Australian wine company by production, [5] and also the largest in terms of total revenue. [6]
After further difficulties in the division resulted in an additional A$1.3 billion write-down, 99 per cent of Fosters Group shareholders agreed at a meeting in Melbourne in April 2011 to split Fosters Group business into separate brewing and wine companies. Treasury Wine Estates officially became a separately listed company the following month, with David Dearie as its CEO. [7]
Further write-down of stock worth around A$160 million took place in 2013, followed by the redundancy of David Dearie and the appointment of interim chief executive Warwick Every-Burns. This left the business in a more fragile state as shares dropped almost A$2 to just above A$4. Steamrollers crushed millions of bottles of cheap wine to dispose of excess stock in the United States. [8] This eventually led to a class-action by disgruntled shareholders which was settled in 2017. [9] [10]
Treasury has since worked with Accolade Wines to promote bottling efficiency, strengthening its performance in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, the board of directors appointed Michael Clarke, a former food executive with Kraft Foods and Premier Foods, as CEO. [8]
In 2015, Treasury reportedly began reducing its presence in the British market to concentrate on Asia, where margins were much higher. [11] However, later that year Treasury bought the majority of the wine business of London-based multinational Diageo. [8]
In July 2016, Treasury Wine Estates slimmed down its wine portfolio, announcing the sale of 12 cheap wine brands in the United States. The sale of the US brands represented around one million cases of wine. [12]
By 2017, Treasury had begun stockpiling luxury wines and rationing their release in China and the United States. More money was spent marketing the most profitable brands. [8]
In January 2019, Treasury's share price fell dramatically on a slew of news reports and was targeted by short sellers in the markets who accused the company of engaging in illegal practices including "channel stuffing" in attempts to inflate its profits. [13]
In July 2020, Michael Clarke stood down as CEO and was replaced by the long-term executive, Tim Ford. [14]
In November 2021, Treasury acquired Napa Valley luxury winemaker Frank Family Vineyards for A$434 million. [15]
In October 2023, the Treasury announced it would acquire US rival Daou Vineyards for at least A$1.4 billion. [16]
The business is divided into four regions: (1) Australia and New Zealand, (2) the Americas (i.e. United States and Canada only), (3) Europe (including Latin America), and (4) Asia (including the Middle East and Africa). Globally the company says it has access to more than 13,000 hectares of owned or leased vineyards, with more than 3400 employees, and 36 million cases of wine sold in the 2017 financial year. [17]
In 2013, Treasury Wine had to destroy six million bottle of wines in U.S. due to massive oversupply. [18] [19] The company suffered from a series costly write-downs since its split-off from Fosters. [19] The company was accused of "channel stuffing"- inflating sales by pushing more to wholesalers than they wish. [18] [20]
Treasury Wine tried to capitalize on strong demand of Penfold in China by bundling it with Wolf Blass and Rawson's Retreat. [20] [21] China accounts for half of Treasury's sales in Asia and 80 per cent of its growth in the region, according to a report in 2018. [21] There was a massive supply glut with some distributors in China were said to be sitting on up to three years' worth of stock and deep discounting among wholesalers and retailers. [21] Despite higher taxes and cost of transportation, Rawson's Retreat was selling for less in China than in Australia, some distributors were even giving it away for free when bundled with premium wine. [21]
| Winery | Appellation/Region | Country | External link | Notes [22] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Crimes | South Eastern Australia | Australia | ||
| Acacia Winery | Los Carneros | United States | ||
| Annie's Lane | Clare Valley | Australia | Previously named Quelltaler [23] | |
| Beaulieu Vineyard | Rutherford | United States | ||
| Belcreme De Lys | Central Coast | United States | ||
| Beringer Vineyards | Napa Valley | United States | The oldest continuously operating winery in the Napa Valley, founded 1876. The winery is on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. [24] | |
| Blossom Hill | Central Coast | United States | ||
| Castello di Gabbiano | Tuscany | Italy | ||
| Chateau St. Jean | Sonoma Valley | United States | ||
| Coldstream Hills | Yarra Valley | Australia | ||
| Devil's Lair | Margaret River | Australia | ||
| Etude | Los Carneros | United States | ||
| Fifth Leg | Margaret River | Australia | A label of the Devil's Lair winery. | |
| Greg Norman Estates | (various) | (various) | ||
| Heemskerk | Tasmania | Australia | Other labels: Abel's Tempest, Georg Jensen [25] | |
| Hewitt Vineyard | Rutherford | United States | ||
| Ingoldby | McLaren Vale | Australia | ||
| Jamieson's Run | Limestone Coast | Australia | ||
| Killawarra | "South Eastern Australia" | Australia | Created by Seaview in 1971.[ citation needed ] | |
| Leo Buring | Clare Valley & Eden Valley | Australia | ||
| Lindeman's | Hunter Valley & Coonawarra | Australia | ||
| Matua Valley Wines | Marlborough | New Zealand | Other labels: Angel Cove [26] | |
| Meridian | Central Coast | United States | ||
| Penfolds | Adelaide Hills & Barossa Valley | Australia | ||
| Pepperjack | Barossa Valley | Australia | ||
| Provenance Vineyards | Rutherford | United States | ||
| Rawson's Retreat | "South Eastern Australia" | Australia | ||
| Rosemount Estate | McLaren Vale | Australia | ||
| Run Riot | Central Coast | United States | ||
| Saltram | Barossa Valley | Australia | ||
| Secret Stone | Marlborough | New Zealand | ||
| Seppelt | Victoria | Australia | ||
| Shingle Peak | Marlborough | New Zealand | ||
| Sledgehammer | Northern California & Mendoza | United States & Argentina | ||
| Squealing Pig | Marlborough | New Zealand | ||
| St Hubert's | Yarra Valley | Australia | ||
| Stags' Leap Winery | Napa Valley | United States | ||
| Stellina di Notte | Veneto | Italy | ||
| Sterling Vineyards | Napa Valley | United States | ||
| T'Gallant | Mornington Peninsula | Australia | ||
| Wolf Blass | South Australia | Australia | ||
| Wynns Coonawarra | Coonawarra | Australia | ||
| Yellowglen | "South Eastern Australia" | Australia | ||
Foster's Group Pty. Ltd. was an Australian beer group with interests in brewing and soft drinks, known for Foster's Lager, now called Carlton & United Breweries since the company was renamed in 2011. Foster's was founded in 1888 in Melbourne, Victoria by two American brothers, who sold the brewery a year later.
Penfolds Grange is an Australian wine, made predominantly from the Shiraz (Syrah) grape and usually a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is widely considered one of Australia's "first growth" and its most collectable wine. The term "Hermitage", the name of a French wine appellation, was commonly used in Australia as another synonym for Shiraz or Syrah. Penfolds is owned by Treasury Wine Estates.
Pernod Ricard Winemakers is the wholly owned wine subsidiary of French wine and spirits producer Pernod Ricard, which is one of the largest alcoholic beverage companies in the world. It arose from the Australian and New Zealand companies formerly known as Premium Wine Brands and Pernod Ricard Pacific, and was then extended to become Pernod Ricard's umbrella organisation for its wine operations in other countries. Amongst its large portfolio, its major wineries are Jacob's Creek from Australia, Campo Viejo from Spain, Kenwood Vineyards from the United States, and Brancott Estate from New Zealand.
Stags' Leap Winery is a winery located near Yountville, California, United States, in the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley. The winery's 240-acre (97 ha) estate vineyard was first planted in 1893. In 1997, Stags' Leap was purchased by Beringer Wine Estates, which in 2000 was in turn purchased by the Australian company Foster's Group, whose two wine groups combined to become Beringer-Blass Wine Estates. Beringer-Blass was demerged from Fosters in 2011 to become Treasury Wine Estates. Robert Brittan continued the revitalization of the vineyards and winery until 2005.
Yalumba is an Australian winery located near the town of Angaston, South Australia in the Barossa Valley wine region. It was founded by a British brewer, Samuel Smith, who emigrated to Australia with his family from Wareham, Dorset in August 1847 aboard the ship China. Upon arriving in Adelaide in December, Smith built a small house on the banks of the River Torrens. He lived there less than a year before moving north to Angaston where he purchased a 30-acre (120,000 m2) block of land on the settlement's south eastern boundary. He named his property "Yalumba" after an indigenous Australian word for "all the land around". In 1849 Smith and his son Sidney planted Yalumba's first vineyards, beginning the Yalumba dynasty. Until the 1960s Yalumba was known for fortified wines. As at 2022 it was ranked the twelfth largest Australian wine company by production and ninth largest in terms of total revenue.
The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export, and tourism.
De Bortoli Wines is a wine-producing private family-owned company based in Australia. In 2022 it was ranked the seventh largest Australian wine company by production, and the sixth largest in terms of total revenue. Its range of wines includes the sweet botrytized white dessert wine, Noble One.
Penfolds is an Australian wine producer that was founded in Adelaide in 1844 by Christopher Rawson Penfold, an English physician who emigrated to Australia, and his wife Mary Penfold. It is one of Australia's oldest wineries, and is currently part of Treasury Wine Estates.
Max Schubert was a pioneering Australian winemaker, with Penfolds, who is best known as the creator of Grange Hermitage. Schubert was included in the Sydney Morning Herald's 100 most influential Australians of the century, which was published in 2001.
Brancott Estate is the brand adopted since 2010 by Pernod Ricard for New Zealand's largest wine producer, formerly Montana Wines, which now operates as the New Zealand division of Pernod Ricard Winemakers. The name comes from its Brancott winery in Blenheim, and was chosen to reduce confusion in the United States market with wines from the state of Montana.
Accolade Wines is an international wine business with headquarters in South Australia and corporate offices in Melbourne. It has been owned by the Carlyle Group, an American private equity company, since 2018.
Tahbilk Winery is a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is located 120 km north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour and Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes a sub region of Goulburn Valley Wine Region. It was established in 1860, and is the oldest family-owned winery and vineyard in Victoria. In 2022 it was ranked the eighteenth largest Australian wine company by production, and the tenth largest in terms of total revenue. The winery is part of Australia's First Families of Wine, a prominent Australian wine alliance.
Lindeman's is an Australian wine company, owned by Treasury Wine Estates. It was founded in 1843 by Dr Henry John Lindeman, who planted its first vines at "Cawarra", Gresford, on the Upper Paterson River in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Though the vineyard comprised only 40 acres (16 ha), it was well set up, with cellars and other plant for making wine from grapes grown elsewhere in the region. Lindeman also had cellars in Sydney for ageing the wine.
Australian Vintage Limited (AVG) is an Australian public company that operates within the wine production industry. It was established by Brian McGuigan with the help of his wife, Fay, and younger brother, Neil McGuigan. The company was incorporated on 30 May 1991 in New South Wales under the name Roserim Limited. This name later changed to Brian McGuigan Wines Limited. After the merger with Simeon Wines in 2002, the company changed its name to McGuigan Simeon Wines Limited, before renaming it to Australian Vintage Limited in 2008. Its main business activities include retail and wholesale wine production, and vineyard management services. As at 2022 it was ranked the fifth largest Australian wine company by production and also the fifth largest in terms of total revenue.
Kingston Estate winery was established in 1979 by Sarantos and Constantina Moularadellis.
Brookland Valley Estate is an Australian winery at Wilyabrup, in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia. Australian wine writer Ray Jordan has described its vineyard as one of Australia's showpieces; another writer, James Halliday, considers its Flutes Café to be one of the best winery restaurants in the region.
Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.
Casella Family Brands is a family-owned wine company based in Australia. Its most well-known brand name is yellow tail.
Gil Wahlquist (1927–2012) was an Australian journalist and "pioneer organic wine producer" who was largely responsible for re-establishing the Mudgee wine industry and raising the international profile of the Australian wine industry in the 1970s.
Angove Family Winemakers is a winery, operating in the McLaren Vale wine region and Riverland wine region in South Australia. As at 2022, it was ranked the nineteenth largest Australian wine company by production.
