Aussie investment lends further international flair to The Winery

Aussie investment lends further international flair to The Winery
by WineNews Editorial Team

Australia’s family-owned Yalumba Wine Company has acquired a stake in Stellenbosch-based The Winery of Good Hope, an intercontinental winemaking outfit of several partners including Briton Alex Dale, Australian Ben Radford and Frenchman Edouard Labeye.

The deal involves the acquisition of 'about a fifth' of shareholding by Yalumba in The Winery and is a strategic partnership that will enable the latter to expand its production and export capabilities, a media release announced yesterday (10 October 2006).

Alex Dale, founder of The Winery of Good Hope, believes this is the first investment in a South African winery by any Australian wine company.

Dale says new shares were issued to enable Yalumba to inject capital into the company. This makes Yalumba the third largest shareholder in The Winery, after Dale and partner Andy Openshaw.

“Securing a business relationship with a winemaker of this calibre is a significant achievement for us,” Dale adds. “Not only is Yalumba making a financial boost to our vision, but is a global industry leader with a wealth of knowledge and global relationships which we can use to energise our growth strategy.

“As a family-owned group they value our spirit and understand the importance of letting us operate independently, rather than becoming a bolt-on member of their group. We will maintain our independence as winemakers yet have full access to their research and development skills and vineyard nursery stocks.”

Yalumba’s proprietor Robert Hill-Smith sees this South African investment as a prime opportunity to “jump aboard to help build quality and brands, and to have some fun. We share the same winemaking values as The Winery -and pride ourselves in being able to spot a good wine company when we see one!”

“We know Alex well and have watched his progress as a producer of remarkably individualistic wines. Our due diligence of the company confirmed for us that The Winery is an exciting leader in the new wave of characterful premium wines being made in South Africa. We wanted to contribute to – and share – the organic growth we expect from innovative winemaking.”

Dale says that The Winery’s exports will benefit from the distribution networks Yalumba has established in North America, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and former eastern Europe. Yet it will continue to export its premium Radford Dale, Vinum, Black Rock and Winery of Good Hope wines through specialist outlets it has established in almost 20 countries during the past six years.

“For the past six years The Winery has worked hard and with notable success to establish upmarket, niche outlets for our wines around the world, but we do not have the equivalent resources of a group like Yalumba to invest in expanding our network. In cementing this exciting relationship with Yalumba we have dramatically broadened our horizons in terms of winemaking knowledge and innovations, as well as gaining direct access to key global markets,” says Dale.

The Yalumba Wine Company owns the brands of Yalumba, Pewsey Vale Vineyard, Nautilus Estate ( Marlborough, New Zealand), Jansz Tasmania and Oxford Landing Estate. Other activities include one of Australia’s leading specialised vineyard nursery businesses, an in house- cooperage, and more than 700 hectares of vineyards in Australia, New Zealand and California.

[ wine.co.za ]