Cask wine sales drop forces packaging plant closure

One of Australia’s largest wine producers, Accolade Wines, has been forced to close its cask wine packaging plant due to falling sales of cask wine.

The packaging plant in Buronga, situated in south-west NSW, will close this month and will relocate packaging to Accolade Wines’ Berri factory in South Australia.

It is expected that ten workers from the cask wine packaging plant in Buronga will be made redundant.

Accolade Wines Manufacturing Director Richard Lloyd told Australian Food News that cask wine sales had been steadily decreasing over the past 3 years.

“We have recently reviewed the long-term prospects for cask and it’s unlikely that the situation is going to change, with current projections pointing to further annual declines of around 7 per cent per year,” Mr Lloyd said.

Accolade Wines cask wine brands include Banrock Station, Stanley Wines and Berri Estates. The cask wine brands will continue to be produced and will be packaged at the Berri factory.

Some of the other well-known wine brands of the group include Hardys, Flagstone Wines, Gran Tierra, Ravenswood, Yarra Burn and Echo Falls.

Last year Accolade Wines laid off another 120 employees at its Reynella site in South Australia as part of ongoing restructuring of its operations.

In 2012, the parent group Accolade Wines Holdings Australia Pty Ltd generated total revenue of $438,744,000 including sales and other revenue.