Accolade Wines Names New CEO
Accolade Wines has appointed experienced wine industry executive John Ratcliffe as its chief executive officer. Over the past 11 years John has Ratcliffe been providing operational and strategic expertise to the boards of multinationals, major financial institutions, distributors, retailers and brand owners across the globe. Prior to this, he was the managing director of Seagram UK and a pivotal driver of innovation at UK retailer Oddbins.
John Ratcliffe comments: “I am delighted to be taking the helm of Accolade as it looks to implement its strategy of being the only company delivering a full service New World wine proposition globally across the three core price segments of value, mid-market and premium. Accolade has a wonderful portfolio of global and domestic brands, including the iconic Hardys, coupled with multi-channel distribution in all main geographies.”
John Ratcliffe will take up his appointment on 3 February 2014. He will be spending his time in Accolade’s major markets and travelling from bases in Australia and the UK.
Accolade Wines has evolved into a global wine company with some of the world’s best-known brands sold in over 80 countries, including Australia, the UK, mainland Europe, the US, Canada, Japan and China. The business is the number one wine company by volume in the UK and Australia, with a portfolio of brands ranging from the historic Hardys, the number one Australian wine brand in the UK and significant wine brand in mainland Europe, through to Kumala, the number one South African wine brand in the UK. The UK portfolio also includes Echo Falls, the third largest wine brand in the UK, Stowells, the number one wine brand in the on-premise trade, Banrock Station (Australia), the UK’s number one environmentally-friendly wine brand and South African Fish Hoek and Flagstone. The portfolio also includes various other premium branded wines and a Wine Fusion portfolio including, Stone’s Ginger Wine, Stone’s Ginger Joe alcoholic ginger beer and Babycham.
