Villa Maria, New Zealand’s most awarded winery, has announced plans to establish its own Australian-based sales and distribution operation to continue to grow its presence in the market.
The family-owned winery made the decision following the acquisition of its distributor Fine Wine Partners by Accolade Wines, with the aim of creating greater flexibility for its marketing and distribution as well as getting closer to its customers.
“Villa Maria has had a very successful relationship with Fine Wine Partners for the past 12 years,” said founder and owner Sir George Fistonich. “With their support, Villa Maria has become one of the largest New Zealand wine brands in Australia and has a very solid reputation, validated by many awards including Winestate’s New Zealand Winery of the Year, which we’ve won 15 out of 19 years.”
The company currently has two wine brands active in Australia – Vidal and Villa Maria, and will assess future growth for the business once they’re firmly established in the market. In the interim, Villa Maria will take advantage of this unique opportunity to focus on the highly lauded Reserve and Single Vineyard wines – both for on and off premise.
“We see the potential to grow significantly in Australia. Because we are focusing on a limited number of brands with different strategies, we can be very efficient and dedicated in all of our sales and marketing efforts. This is a huge opportunity to work more closely with our customers to ensure we are meeting their needs,” Sir George said.
Villa Maria will commence its new operation from 1 March 2017. In the interim, it will be business as usual and Fine Wine Partners will continue to sell and distribute the Villa Maria range with no interruption of service to customers.