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Australia's largest family-run wine company, Casella, has sold 7,215 hectares to the Canadian pension fund PSP Investments. That is about two-thirds of its vineyards and an area almost the size of Germany's Mosel growing region. Founded in 1969 by Sicilian immigrants Filippo and Maria Casella, Casella Family Brands is best known for "Yellow Tail", one of the strongest wine brands in the world. With 168 million bottles per year, the wines with the rock kangaroo on the label account for 17 percent of Australia's wine exports. This makes Casella the largest wine exporter in the country. In the future, company boss John Casella wants to concentrate more on his premium brands like Peter Lehmann and Brand's Laira. He wants to invest the proceeds from the sale in building brands as well as expand in Australia and internationally.
The buyer is PSP Investments, the pension fund of Canadian public servants. With his company Southern Premium Vineyards (SPV), he currently already owns 460 hectares of vineyards in the Coonawarra and Barossa regions. As its director Nick Gill explained, SPV's "strategy is to offer wine companies a multi-regional solution for the supply of wine grapes as an alternative to owning or leasing vineyards". With the sale, Casella has at the same time concluded a long-term contract for the supply of grapes with SPV.
The Australian newspaper described the move as "the largest single sale of vineyards in Australia in living memory", which is expected to generate tens of millions for Casella.
(al / source: vitisphere; photo: asiawinenews)