Treasury Wine Estates 'extremely difficult' decision to close Ryecroft winery

By Erin Smith

Published: 10 November, 2014

Treasury Wine Estates has made the "extremely difficult" decision to close its Ryecroft winery in McLaren Vale in South Australia.

The move comes as part of the company's plans to deliver significant cost savings, including rectifying some legacy "structural issues".

Peter Taylor, the director of wine production ANZ, said: "The decision to stop operating Ryecroft winery was an extremely difficult one. This is a tough but necessary action that TWE has to take. We have several wineries within our production footprint and need to ensure that they operate at the highest possible capacity to maximise the efficiencies of our network. Unfortunately Ryecroft has been operating at around half its capacity for several years now, and it is simply not sustainable for this to continue."

Rosemount Rosemount

The winery was predominately used to process Rosemount Estates wines, which will now be made at other sites in South Australia.

"Rosemount wines previously made at Ryecroft will continue to source their fruit from McLaren Vale and surrounding regions; the only change is the location where the wine will be made," said Taylor.

The winery will not be processing the 2015 vintage. Closure plans will begin immediately although it could take several months for the winery to completely shut down. Thirty-three Ryecroft employees were informed by senior management this morning of the plans to close.

The move is part of an ongoing strategic plan to deliver on a 'reset year' that Michael Clarke, TWE's new chief executive announced earlier this year. In 2014 the company took an AUD$260 million write-down. In April, Clarke announced that there were "structural issues that are impacting our business that have been left far too long that require time to put right."

Printer friendly version