156 thoughts on “Who Makes My Wine?”

1. 

   Don says:

   Scary list of big players that own the wines we see on the shelf.
   It would be great if there was a list of privately owned/operated wineries (maybe a lot smaller and easier to maintain!).

   1. 

      Huon Hooke says:

      Nice idea but such a list would be far too big to manage. Something like 85% of the 2500-plus winemaking entities in Australia are micro-boutique (<100 tonnes crush) and most would be privately owned and operated.

2. 

   Peter Fitzgerald says:

   House of Arras is now owned by Handpicked.

3. 

   Oliver Keighley says:

   Does Coles actually own winemaking facilities to make wine from the vineyards they own, or do they contract it out to larger winemakers and then put their label of choice on the wine?

   1. 

      Huon Hooke says:

      I don’t believe Coles owns any vineyards or wineries, unlike Endeavour. So yes, it’s all grown and made by other people.

      1. 

         Marcello G Fabretti says:

         Endeavor bought Cape Mentelle, no?

4. 

   Josh Pfeiffer says:

   Hi,
   My name is Josh Pfeiffer, owner and winemaker at Tread Lightly Wines here in the Barossa Valley. You have listed Tread Lightly as being owned by Coles, which it is not, it is owned by me, a small, independent fourth generation grape grower and winemaker making this wine myself. I own the trademark and I would appreciate if you removed Tread Lightly from the list of brands owned by Coles. I think you might be thinking of Tread Softly.
   Thanks in advance,
   Josh Pfeiffer

   1. 

      Deb Pearce says:

      Hi Josh. Apologies and this has now been sorted out for you.

5. 

   lolza says:

   Supermarket chains around the world have driven the loss of quality of every foodstuff through a prioritisation of 1) lowest cost 2) highest shelf appeal 3) logistic resilience, to the detriment of everything else: sustainability of independant food producers ; taste ; nutritional value. They have literally squeezed farmers and growers into bankruptcy, to then buy their farm and employ them on misery salary. So it is no wonder but great disgust we can see the same here with wine.
   To those who conflate large alcohol companies (Pernot, Diageo, LVMH…etc) with supermarkets owning brands, it is vastly different: the first have making these as their core business. Diageo bought Zacapa, and changed exaclty nothing to the process. Woolies and coles will squeeze every bit of profit they can out of the brand until it’s worthless. If you don’t understand the difference it makes, then i suppose you don’t care about your superannuation fund for instance making decisions as to what grape to plant and when to pick it and whether to water or not and whether to focus on yield or on quality…etc…it’s about the same. Supermarkets have spent the last 50 years making everything they sell a bit more shit every year. Why would they do any different with wine?

   1. 

      Huon Hooke says:

      Thanks for your comments. We are not suggesting large liquor companies are doing anything questionable, we just like to let people know who owns what. Drinkers can make their own purchasing decisions.

6. 

   Gillian says:

   FYI From the Producer (mentioned in a post) has joined The Wine Collective
   https://Fromtheproducer.com redirects to
   https://www.thewinecollective.com.au/

7. 

   Geoff says:

   Just made a blog entry that shows my email address. Can it be deleted please.

   1. 

      Deb Pearce says:

      Hi Geoff. Your email address has been removed as requested.

8. 

   SJ says:

   Stonier Wines are now family owned (three families).
   Knappstein is now owned by Yinmore Wines

   1. 

      Huon Hooke says:

      Thanks for the prompt, SJ.

9. 

   Sonja Needs says:

   Old Fat Unicorn is Woolworths brand

10. 

    Geoff Adams says:

    Wow, was just introduced to your site, specifically “who makes my wine”, and I’m very impressed and will probably subscribe. Trying to work out who makes what, where and with fruit from where has been a constant challenge. The ever changing corporate structures are an even bigger nightmare to keep up with. I’m guessing your lists aren’t constantly and actively reviewed so I’ll make a couple of points:
    St Huberts was sold by Treasury estate to Mitchelton Wines (Gerry Ryan) almost a year ago with a complicated transition period re branding, marketing etc. to take several years.
    The Dan’s conglomorate seem to be currently very active in takeovers and setting up their own brands, including with spirits etc. – I’ve been told the main brand name, but it escapes me. Expect this to continue.
    Reader Susan posted about Oak Rd a while back. I’m well familiar with this mob who also go by “The Wine Group”. They are based in Camberwell as a corporate address and seem to work purely as a marketing outfit. Their sales team have a massive staff turnover due to their ultra aggressive sales tactics which put many off. They have a big list of wines some of which (higher cost) are more than acceptable, but most are ordinary albeit usually reasonable value. Prices are ALWAYS negotiable, so never pay the web prices or first offer phone quotes. It seem they use many larger brands who label for Oak Rd, and many smaller wineries who produce wine with fruit from who knows where and use labels/brands with heir own obscure names linked back to the Camberwell address. Much/most of the wines seems to be dispatched from where it’s made. If you deal with this mob; expect a different salesperson on a differents phone number almost every contact, lots of frustration, and problems getting refurnds etc. (they offer the usual “Guarantees”). Persist and haggle and you can get some reasonable wine if you are a calm and patient person with a strong resolve.

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       Thanks for your input, Geoff.
       St Huberts the property has been sold to Gerry Ryan as you say, but Treasury retains the St Huberts brand and still makes the wines at Coldstream Hills.

11. 

    Nelson Silva de Sousa says:

    How come don’t you have Madeira Island wine in your charts? Here on Madeira Island we have already good quality table wine! And people only know Madeira Wine: Sercial; Boal; Verdelho; Malvasia; Tinta Mole; Terrantez; But there are good table wines, as well! And you you don’t even have them in your charts! How come? Why don’t you come to Madeira island, Portugal, instead? Greetings and good morning, from Funchal City, Madeira Island, Portugal!

    1. 

       Lars Herold says:

       We love Madeira wines and have reviews of some Madeiras, but this particular list “Who makes my wine” is a list of wine brands bottled and labelled by Australian wine retailers.

12. 

    Susan says:

    I have bought a few wines from Oak Road, not sure how I got on their contact list. Wines are ok, but I could never figure out who was making wines such as “Flora Estate”. The phone callers are very pushy and I finally decided to challenge them on where these wines are coming from, as the wineries don’t exist. The last person I spoke with said the wines were sourced by the Casella group. If this is correct, they are labelling loads of different wines under various names.

    1. 

       Gurk says:

       Why?!!!
       When you buy from these spammers it just encourages them to harass the rest of us with the same tactics!

       Personally I _suspect_ they have the inside running with a legitimate shop and harvest contact details from there.

13. 

    Graham Quintal says:

    “Train to Nowhere” McLaren Vale Shiraz is bottled for Pinnacle Drinks – currently available from Dan Murphy’s.

14. 

    Florence Masters says:

    Thank you very much for such an interesting article. We are a young start up of French women, passionate about wine and we have at heart to tell the story behind the bottle and reconnect the wine makers directly with the consumers. We have a small online store full of great small batches: http://www.bottli.com.au Our focus is on the winemakers. We are not trying to compete with the big players and to feature cheap wines, au contraire! Our target market are people who want to support their local industry in an ethical way. Each order placed on our site is passed onto the winemaker who then increase his/her database. I’d love to collect feedback here from anyone genuinly interested in making sure the Australian wine industry profits to the hardworking winemakers rather than the big retailers.

15. 

    Lee says:

    Hi I would like to know if you have a list of wineries/winemakers who are women owned/run?
    Want to support more women in the industry. ta

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       I don’t know of any such list, and it would be tricky to compile, as winemaking and management positions are frequently changing, not to mention winery ownership. Winemaking in larger companies (and even a lot of small ones) is done by teams rather than individuals, and while those teams increasingly contain a good number of women, they’re usually mixed genders, so maybe not what you’re looking for. Just reading the wine media will give you some insights. Also check out the Women In Wine web-site, which has some good resources.

    2. 

       Paul Sellenger says:

       You can’t go past Maryann Egan who makes all the acclaimed wines at Wantirna Estate in the Yarra Valley. The vineyard was established in 1963 and she’s been making the wines for about the last 20 years since her father passed the reins onto her.

16. 

    Anne Kwok says:

    Hi who makes golden oak casks wine sold in Australia
    If I can’t find out I will be going to Australian health board

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       Golden Oak is a cask-wine brand that is exclusive to the Woolworths/Endeavour Drinks shops such as BWS. They don’t disclose the winery that makes it.

       1. 

          Roland Kaval says:

          I think you’ll find it’s McWilliams ( but not formula longer )

17. 

    J Shaw says:

    Colonel and The Merchant is also a Woolies brand. “Bottled for Pinnacle Drinks”

18. 

    Alex Nesbitt says:

    Katnook have just been acquired by Accolade: https://www.accoladewines.com/senior-winemaker-named-as-katnook-estate-completes-transition-to-accolade-wines/

19. 

    Kathryn Micallef says:

    Looking where Chapel Hill wines are made

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       Chapel Hill makes its own wines in its own winery in McLaren Vale. They do supply exclusive labels for at least one of the big supermarket retailers, as many wineries do.

       1. 

          Hat says:

          Chapel hill owned by Woolworths. Endeavor anyway.

    2. 

       Victoria Ryan says:

       https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/woolworths-endeavour-drinks-buys-chapel-hill-wines-20190911-p52q47#:~:text=Switzerland's%20billionaire%20Schmidheiny%20family%2C%20which,vintage%20was%20produced%20in%201975.
       Sept. 2019 – Woolworths’ Endeavour Drinks has strengthened its wine business before a $10 billion demerger by acquiring award-winning McLaren Vale winery Chapel Hill from Switzerland’s Schmidheiny family.

20. 

    Tim Mur says:

    Product, En Saison ROSE 2019, A disgusting crystal sediment found in product making the last glass unpalatable, contacted importer Pinnacle Drinks, Surry Hills, who merely commented that yeah that sometimes happens. Not worth the money when you have to discard last glass.

21. 

    Stew says:

    Another new one for you Huon. Forest of Echoes 2019 Pinot Noir (maybe Riesling too, as have seen a review for that in winestate) has just popped up on the Dan Murphy’s online store. Tasmanian. Looked at the trademark and it is registered to Endeavour Drinks Group (Woolworths).
    Amazed they managed to source a Pinot Noir from Tasmania in 2019 with most of the southern regions not making Pinot Noir due to the smoke damage that vintage. Would be interesting to taste to see what sub-region it is from…

22. 

    keith glossop says:

    Enjoyed this blog Huon. First time reader. I have been purchasing wines through Naked Wines Aust (Wine Angels) in the belief it was assisting smaller family owned wineries. Am I on the right track or have I been railroaded again?
    Is it owned by some multi national or is it really as it portrays itself, a small winery angel.

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       I’ve never heard a single complaint about Naked Wines, either from producers or consumers. It seems to do a good job, although you can’t compare prices as its wines are made exclusively for its own business. Naked Wines started in the UK in the ’80s, and was bought by the UK’s largest stand-alone wine retailer Majestic in 2015, then in 2019 Majestic was bought by a US investment co.

       1. 

          Graypz says:

          I have two complaints, the small print which hooks you into a subscription service, but the main one is that you get a wine from these guys and cellar it for a short while. Taste the wine and find it exceptional, then go try and find some more. The winery is long gone, if it ever existed and you have just drank a nice wine that is rarer than unicorn poo.

23. 

    John W Ross says:

    Is Duperrey really a Woolworths brand? My understanding is G.H. Martel & Co.

    1. 

       John W Ross says:

       A bit more research answered my own question. It is an exclusive Woolworths brand, though the product itself comes from Martel.

       1. 

          Huon Hooke says:

          Thanks for pointing this out John. We will rectify it.

24. 

    adam says:

    Does anyone know which of these labels were started by the retailers vs acquired by the retailer?

    1. 

       Paul says:

       All just made up names by retailer. Woolworths simply bring in juice to Cellarmaster from anywhere, doesn’t matter where, run it down a bottling line there and sell it through Cellarmaster, BWS, Dan Murphy. Their COGs is really low and the margins typically north of 200% (better than restaurant margins). They (Woolworths) import hundreds of thousands of liters or Oyster Bay Sauv Blanc and bottle it a nine different price points! This is from a Woolworths insider. It’s a rort of biblical proportions and the consumer thinks all these wine are wineries. They’re not. The clue? Read the address on the back “bottled for Pinnacle Drinks”… the address is either in Surrey Hills or Siegersdorf Rd Nuriootpa. It’s the biggest scandal in the wine industry, it undermines wineries who actually employ people in their vineyards, cellar doors and generally contribute to their local economies. Woolworths and Coles simply bring in juice and pass it off as wineries and know we the consumer will eat it up. Read the list above and stay away from Woolworths and Coles home brand wines…. someone got shafted and they’ve cleaned up

       1. 

          hutchison.geoff@gmail.com says:

          The scandal is the misuse of market power; anti-competitive.
          Australian competition laws are either pathetc, or not enforced. Probably both.

25. 

    Donny Marciano says:

    Hello all – I wanted to contact Sonata Estate and let them know that I have been buying both the red and dry white for years. However the last cask of dry white I bought seems to have been watered down more than ever. It simply has very little substance, and I must say I am very disappointed this time. I’ll try to cotact the winemakers through WW, I think they need to know what the public are thinking of their latest batch of wine.

26. 

    Matthew McCulloch says:

    Zonin is not owned by Woolworths.
    Luis Felipe Edwards and Peter Mertes are not owned by Aldi.

    1. 

       Alan Wall says:

       And any Spaniard could tell you that Vicente Gandia is not owned by Aldi either. Seems like whoever compiled this list is not familiar with anything but Australian wine.

27. 

    David Donnelly says:

    I read elsewhere that Accolade has recently been sold to the Carlyle Group

28. 

    lisa says:

    The producer is not really being as honest as you say, they are only telling half the truth, which is like being half pregnant, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately Sonata is a Woolworths owned brand so you wont be able to go on the Sonata website and contact the Sonata winemaker or the Sonata manager to find out what the deal is as you could with a real producer as you already know from your failed google search no doubt. You could try contacting Pinnacle drinks group, they might be able to help if you really want to know. My best guess is apples.

29. 

    Daile says:

    Do you know if Cellarmasters sell only Woolworths wine? Im tipping thats the case! (Pun intended). There are some brands that Cellarmasters are selling that arent on this list – could possibly be a good source for woolworths brands?

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       Cellarmasters is owned by Woolworths and they do sell some own brands and wines that are made exclusively for them. But that’s by no means all they sell.

       1. 

          Mike Warren says:

          On 08 Oct 2019, the site is showing Baileys Of Glenrowan under both Treasury Wines and Casella??

30. 

    Adam Rankine says:

    This is amazing! There are really lots of company that makes wine. Such a very helpful article.

31. 

    moon says:

    On the goon box, it states that it is a “wine base beverage.” I think that honesty is awesome. The 4 litre box is $9 and it’s 9.5% (whether it’s the red or white). What’s really weird is that this wine based beverage tastes so much better than any other goon bag or even low price bottles on the market. Someone is hitting the market just right and if that’s woolworths then good on them! Not all of us can afford to drink expensive gold labelled bottles.

    1. 

       Ann says:

       What cask is that. We buy Debortoli but it’s nearly $20

32. 

    Anon says:

    Stonier wines
    Accolade I believe

33. 

    Matt says:

    Isn’t Church Road also owned by Pernod Ricard?

34. 

    Winobill says:

    Some Aldi wines were made at Victorian Alps Winery in Gapsted, North East Victoria. One label was Wren Feather which is no longer used. It was a $15.00 Chardonnay at cellar door which sold for five bucks at Aldi. it was worth the $15.00 price tag.

35. 

    Ian Juniper says:

    Who are/is Albertson’s and where are their wines made? “Southeastern Australia” is hardly a pedigree and many potential purchasers would rather not buy a pig in a plastic bag.

36. 

    Scott Davis says:

    I believe that Woolworths Limited owns a large winery in the Barossa Valley. Is that the source of all of its own-branded wine, or just some of it? Does Coles also make its own, or does it outsource the entire production?

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       Most supermarket own-label wine is made by other wineries. Yes, Woolworths/Pinnacle Drinks owns the sizeable Dorrien Estate winery in the Barossa, but I’m not aware of Coles owning a winery, although it does own some vineyards.

37. 

    Michel says:

    Everyone has their own experiences and according to this, all they have their own reviews. Well nice blog, it has lots to learn.

38. 

    Nick Guggisberg says:

    One more thing. I note that Wine state mag takes sponsorship from Aldi and reviews their wines along with many of the other brands you list under the supermarket own brands. Who owns Winestate mag? Thanks again, Nick

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       I assume when you say sponsorship you mean advertising? There’s no harm in that: it’s how the print media lives. Where it can become corrosive is when the newspaper or magazine attracts advertising with a promise of free editorial coverage to accompany the ad. Just look in your local free suburban newspaper – they’re full of it. But where it’s insidious is that the reader can’t always tell when an editorial is actually advertorial. They muddy the water deliberately. As to your last question, to my knowledge, Winestate is privately owned.

39. 

    Nick Guggisberg says:

    Hi Huon, I’m interested in your opinion re on-line sellers like vino mofo. I’ve bought some fantastic wines from them, often by smaller producers. I’ve sometimes felt a little guilty because I’ve ended up with a fantastic wine at often less than half the cost. But then I think we’ll the winery obviously needed to shift some product quickly to create some cash flow therefore the online seller has provided them with this opportunity. I acknowledge that once I’ve paid the low price for the wine I’m not going to pay full price for it in the future. Am I contributing to the race to the bottom by adding pressure to these producers?

    1. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       I don’t think there’s any certain answer to that. It depends on you the consumer, how you perceive the brand after you’ve bought it for a bargain price. Does it cheapen the brand? It’s why some wineries hide their brand by quitting excess wine under ‘secret labels’ and such like. You certainly can find some bargains in limited offers by online retailers.

40. 

    David Ward says:

    I just discovered the Sonata Estate goon at BWS and was googling looking to complement the producer. On the goon box, it states that it is a “wine base beverage.” I think that honesty is awesome. The 4 litre box is $9 and it’s 9.5% (whether it’s the red or white). What’s really weird is that this wine based beverage tastes so much better than any other goon bag or even low price bottles on the market. Someone is hitting the market just right and if that’s woolworths then good on them! Not all of us can afford to drink expensive gold labelled bottles.

    1. 

       Mark Aitken says:

       Hi David,
       The expression “wine based beverage” is unusual as it implies it is not composed of 100% grape product. In Australia you can only call a beverage wine if it is made 100% from wine grapes, technically any other fruit wine is not wine by this definition. If it is true that it contains fruit (or anything else) in addition to wine grapes then ‘wine based beverage’ is indeed an accurate description, but don’t you think it would be good to also state what the balance of the composition is, I would like to know what I am drinking? The producer is not really being as honest as you say, they are only telling half the truth, which is like being half pregnant, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately Sonata is a Woolworths owned brand so you wont be able to go on the Sonata website and contact the Sonata winemaker or the Sonata manager to find out what the deal is as you could with a real producer as you already know from your failed google search no doubt. You could try contacting Pinnacle drinks group, they might be able to help if you really want to know. My best guess is apples.

       1. 

          Andrew Wilsmore says:

          It is simply a small amount of water that is added to bring the alcohol content down. Very common practice for cask wine, which is why most of them are labelled ‘wine product’.

    2. 

       Huon Hooke says:

       David, See my article on the legalities and practicalities of adding water to wine/juice/must, which was posted this week.