The Oatleys are back in the Australian wine industry
Although they could have leant back and watched their piles of money grow, Bob Oatley and his family, whose famous Rosemount brand kick-started the Australian wine export boom, and who sold out to Foster’s two years ago, have re-entered the industry – as vintners.
The resurgence of the Oatley family in the wine industry continues with the founders of the Rosemount wine brand, now owned by Foster’s, announcing on 1 December 2006 that they had acquired some viticultural, winemaking and cellar door/restaurant facilities of Orlando Wyndham Wines from Pernod Ricard. The sale includes the Montrose winery, Craigmoor cellar door/restaurant and the Montrose and Craigmoor brands. The deal makes Bob Oatley, who is a veteran of the coffee trade, a true “serial proprietor” in the wine industry.
It was in 1969 when Mr Oatley, now 76, bought some property in the Hunter Valley near Sydney. He thought the land was suitable for grapes. To his great joy he discovered the remnants of a winery there from a century before, which had been called it Rosemount. Oatley did the same.
The first harvest came in the mid-1970s. Over the next few decades Rosemount wines became ubiquitous at home and abroad, proving very popular in the U.K. as well as in the United States. In fact, Rosemount became one of the major instigators of Australia’s wine export boom. It was one of several companies to drive the boom, which has seen global exports increase from 8.3 million litres in 1982/83 to 738 million litres in 2005/06, according to Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation (AWBC) data.
Exports to Great Britain, the largest single market, increased during the same period from 0.8 million litres to 269 million litres while exports to the U.S. increased from 0.6 million litres to 214 million litres.
In 1991/92, the first financial year for which value data is available from the AWBC, global exports were worth AUD 235 million, British exports AUD 91.5 million and U.S. exports AUD 38.7 million. In 2005/06 the respective figures were AUD 2.8 billion, AUD 959.8 million and AUD 901.6 million.
In 2001, when the Oatleys sold Rosemount to Southcorp for AUD 1.49 billion, thus creating the largest Australian wine company, Rosemount was the country’s largest family-owned wine company and in the top five of all companies with annual sales of 4.5 million cases, worth AUD 390 million.
Again, the Oakleys were instrumental in securing Foster’s AUD 3.2 billion takeover of Southcorp when they sold their 18.8 percent stake in Southcorp to Foster’s in 2005.
After his exit from Southcorp, Bob Oatley became a grape grower and founded Oatley Family Wines, which sold grapes to Foster’s. As Australia continues to suffer from a glut of grapes – and wine -, last year’s crop became surplus to Foster’s requirements. So the Oatleys did what many other grape growers with unwanted fruit have done -- they turned to winemaking.
The wine was made at Poet’s Corner, the 33-year-old but modernised 10,000-tonne winery at Mudgee owned by Orlando Wyndham/Pernod Ricard Pacific. The Australian media broke the news in July last year that the Oatleys were planning to launch a new range of wines. There are two labels -- the flagship Robert Oatley, which will retail for about AUD 25 a bottle, and the premium Wild Oats, priced at about AUD 18.
The news of their production was followed in August by the news that the Oatleys had signed an in-principle agreement to buy the Poet’s Corner winery for about AUD 15 million.
The December deal also includes the Poet’s Corner cellar door and restaurant, which is on a separate property to the winery, and a vineyard in the Mudgee region. It also comprises two Orlando Wyndham brands, Montrose and Craigmoor, which Pernod Ricard must have been keen on selling.
Orlando Wyndham is retaining the Poet’s Corner brand and the Oatleys will make the wine for it.
