Accolade Wines has placed itself front and centre of world wine news with two recent announcements – its acquisition for an undisclosed sum of Viña Anakena in Chile and the appointment of its General Manager UK and Ireland, Paul Schaafsma as its new Chief Executive Officer.
This purchase makes Accolade Wines the only wine company with a presence in all the major New World wine producing ‘regions’ (its terminology) of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, North America and South America. It follows on the company’s recent purchase of Grant Burge in Australia. Accolade’s purchase includes all the Anakena brands and inventory, a 3,000-tonne winery in Alto Cachapoal, a vineyard near the winery plus the cellar door. The Anakena leadership team will remain in place, along with winemaker Gavin Taylor. Anakena was founded in the late 1990s by Felipe Ibáñez and Jorge Gutiérrez and today has a presence in 50 markets.
Paul Schaafsma, who for the past three years has headed the largest division of Accolade Wines in the UK and Ireland, succeeds John Ratcliffe who will become the company’s Deputy Chairman and will continue to advise on its strategic development. Schaafsma has been involved in the wine industry for nearly 20 years, bringing extensive experience in the Australian, UK, European and African markets. While he headed the UK office, the market share of Accolade Wines in the UK expanded by over 70% and Hardys, the leading wine brand in the UK’s on trade and off trade, increased its market share by almost 16%. This expansion was achieved through an innovative partnership approach he engineered together with the UK’s large supermarket groups.
With production of more than 35 million cases, Accolade Wines is one of the world’s largest wine businesses, with annual sales of A$1billion in 143 countries.
