accolade
accolade
(Image credit: accolade)

Accolade wines is bolstering its presence in the Chinese market with the purchase of a majority stake in a Shanghai-based wine distribution business.

Shanghai CWC Wine Trading Company already distributes Accolade’s products – which include California’s Echo Falls, Australia’s Banrock Station, Hardys and Leasingham, and Kumala, Fish Hoek and Flagstone in South Africa – and this move will allow Accolade to ‘extend our presence in the market’, CEO Troy Christensen said.

Accolade commercial general manager for Asia, Freddie Choong, said, ‘As Chinese wine consumers are now rapidly exploring the world of wine, this acquisition ensures we are well-placed to provide an exciting suite of wines from icons… to commercial wines.’

Accolade, which employs 1800 people worldwide, is the biggest wine company by volume in the UK and Australia. It was formed in early 2011 when US company Constellation Brands sold a majority stake in its division Constellation Wines Europe and Australia to CHAMP Private Equity.

Written by Adam Lechmere

Adam Lechmere
Adam Lechmere
Decanter Magazine, Wine Editor & Writer

Adam Lechmere is consultant editor of Club Oenologique among other things.

Formerly launch editor of Decanter.com, which he edited until 2011, he has been writing about wine for 20 years, contributing to Decanter, World of Fine Wine, Meininger’s, the Guardian and many others. Before joining the wine world he worked for the BBC, and as a music and film gossip journalist.