Vincor International has bought Western Australia's Goundrey Wines for AU$62.5m (€34.8m).
The giant Canadian company – one of North America’s largest producers of wine and related products – has been scouting for an Australian base for several months. Xanadu and Evans & Tate were also rumoured to be prime targets.
Goundrey (pictured), one of Western Australia’s largest producers of premium and super-premium wine, is based in the Great Southern viticultural region with winery and cellar door operations in Mount Barker, a region with an established reputation for the production of high quality wine. It sells some 260,000 cases a year – up from 17,000 in 1995.
Vincor CEO Donald Triggs said the company would use Goundrey’s domestic success to build on export growth in North America. ‘This acquisition is an important milestone in our international growth strategy to expand operations to all New World wine regions.’
Vincor has wineries in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, California and Washington State, and markets wines produced from grapes grown throughout Canada, California, Washington and vineyards around the world.
Its brands include Canada’s Inniskillin, Sacramento’s RH Philips, and Washington State’s Hogue Cellars.
Written by Adam Lechmere11 October 2002
