New outright owner for SA wine giant behind Yalumba
One of the state’s most prominent businessmen has taken full ownership of the wine business behind popular labels like Yalumba, Jansz and Running with Bulls.
Robert Hill-Smith and his family have taken outright ownership of Hill-Smith Family Estates, the SA-based wine business behind some of the most popular labels in the country.
Hill-Smith bought out his brother Sam to become the outright owner of the oldest family-owned winery in Australia, established in 1849.
The purchase comes amid troubling times for the struggling Australian wine industry, which is grappling with a grape glut, rising fuel costs, and shifting consumer preferences away from alcohol.
Hill-Smith told Wine Business Magazine that the purchase reflected his belief in “our foundation assets built through six generations” and “the long-term health for the world of fine wine”.
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“The wine community is in a world of pain and those challenges pervade the global wine media on an almost daily basis,” he told WBM.
He said he had a “very clear vision and aspirations for our vineyard estates”. Hill-Smith Family Estates has a portfolio of labels including Yalumba, Jansz, Dalrymple Vineyards, Pewsey Vale Vineyard, Oxford Landing, Heggies Vineyard, Running with Bulls and Smith & Hooper.
It also operated distribution businesses, including Samuel Smith & Son and Negociants Australia.
Australian Wine Research Institute head of strategy and partnerships Anthony Robinson said “genuine family ownership” of Hill-Smith Family Estates would enable “a time horizon that most structures cannot match”.
“A business accountable to the next generation makes different investments than one accountable to the next quarter,” Robinson said on social media.
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“Louisa Rose spent three decades at Yalumba, the last several years as Head of Sustainability, building the work behind a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. They maintain the only on-site winery cooperage in the Southern Hemisphere. These are the decisions of a business that intends to be here.
“I have not found a family more consistent in how they think about time. Jessica and Lucy Hill-Smith are already in the business. This purchase puts the next generation first.”
Hill-Smith Family Estates recently appointed Kiera Grant as board chair, replacing Robert, who was chair for ten years.
The company was contacted for comment.
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