Accolade Wines names US partner to drive growth

Accolade Wines has appointed Quintessential – a family owned-and-operated import, marketing and sales company headquartered in Napa, California – to represent its brands in the United States.

Quintessential will initially represent flagship Accolade brands including Hardys, Grant Burge and St Hallett from Australia, Mud House and Hay Maker from New Zealand, the Italian Prosecco Da Luca, Stone’s Ginger Wine, and the easy-drinking Echo Falls Fruit Fusions range.

Accolade Wines Chief Executive Officer Robert Foye said the Americas held “huge opportunity as a key growth market for Accolade Wines.”

“Through our partnership with Quintessential, we are excited to bring our amazing, award-winning portfolio of Australian and New Zealand wines – along with our Italian Prosecco, Da Luca – to the US to enrich everyday moments in our consumers’ lives,” he said.

“In Quintessential, we have found the ideal long-term partner to drive our ambitions in the Americas. We look forward to a close and successful working relationship.”

Dennis Kreps, who owns Quintessential with his father Stephen D. Kreps, said the company was “always looking for wines that will stand out in terms of quality and great value.”

“Although we began conversations with Accolade more than a year ago, the current market circumstances we find ourselves in make it more imperative than ever that we carefully chose brands we believe we can successfully market and sell – wines with history and heritage that fit with the rest of our portfolio,” he said.

Hardys Wines announced a global rebrand and consumer campaign titled ‘Certainty’ last month.

Julien Marteau, Marketing Manager – Core Brands at Accolade Wines said: “Hardys new packaging, as part of a global rebrand, is designed to provide a unified, family feel across our expansive and diverse wine range.

"The bottle labels now clearly communicate our rich heritage, outstanding quality and feature premium cues to improve brand presence, strength and differentiation on-shelf for our consumers.”

The US was Australia's No.2 wine export destination by value in the 12 months to March 31, 2020, at $416 million annually.

Wine Australia Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark noted last month: “Sales data from the UK and US suggests that while cafes and restaurants have closed and sales have been lost, it’s been offset by people buying more wine for at home consumption.

According to IRI Worldwide, wine sales in grocery and mass merchandisers in the US grew by 52% in the week ending March 21, 2020.

“There are reports that Australian wine is keeping its share amidst this growth in both the off-trade and online,” Clarke said. “We will have to see how things go when stockpiling calms down."