Future of iconic wine label Wolf Blass unclear amid Treasury Wine Estates restructure
Treasury Wine Estates will reduce its brand portfolio from 76 labels to 30. (ABC Riverland: Amelia Walters)
In short:
Barossa brand Wolf Blass could be lost as Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) looks to cull 46 labels from its portfolio.
Ten "hero" brands, including Penfolds, Wynns and Pepperjack, will be the focus of the group's future investment.
What's next?
TWE says it is still working through which brands will be axed in the restructure.
Some South Australian wine brands, including the Barossa's Wolf Blass, could be on the chopping block as its winemaker looks to dump more than half of its labels.
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is making the move as part of a focus on premium wine, as the broader industry continues to struggle.
TWE has outlined the strategy by highlighting 10 brands that will lead a restructure and become the focus of the company's investment.
SA's Penfolds has been classed as one of three "power brands", and Wynns and Pepperjack as "regional heroes" in its future line-up.
The future of the remaining 66 labels in TWE's portfolio, including Wolf Blass, is unclear.
"We've probably moved some of those brands more into the sort of tactical-type space as opposed to the power brands," TWE chief supply and sustainability officer Kerrin Petty said.
Wolf Blass has not been listed as a "regional hero" for TWE. (ABC News: Evelyn Manfield)
The company attempted to sell Wolf Blass alongside Lindemans, Blossom Hill and Yellowglen last year.
TWE said it would be reducing its brand offerings down to 30 but has not given a timeline for that process.
"[We're] still working through the exclusions to the list,"Mr Petty said.
"When you have investment spread across a lot of those brands, it's very hard to get the right emphasis on any one of those.
"We believe that putting more investment behind key brands rather than spreading it across 76-odd brands, will certainly improve the performance of Treasury Wine Estates."
TWE says it's been working towards its "premiumisation strategy" for a long time. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
TWE owns brands in Australia, New Zealand the United States.
The change in strategy has been led by chief executive Sam Fischer, who came into the role in May 2025.
Industry impact
The restructure follows a trend of winemakers pulling back from production and divesting of assets due to global difficulties in the wine market.
Peak producer group Australian Grape and Wine said the announcement by TWE was not surprising and that a focus on luxury offerings was a good move.
"In our current climate, businesses are having to make some difficult decisions and this is just another example of that," chief executive Lee McLean said.
"We are facing a pretty turbulent period as an industry, and that's going to result in a significant amount of change and, unfortunately, there will be some real challenges with that in terms of the impacts on communities and jobs.
"It's probably the shift that is inevitable."
Lee McLean says TWE's restructure is representative of broader trends in the market. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Riverland Wine chair Brigid Nolan said it was likely local growers who provided grapes to TWE would be impacted by the restructure.
"It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that such announcements will inevitably have a negative impact on our region's growers," she said.
"It only validates what we all have known for sometime that the supply [and] demand equation continues to remain unbalanced, and without structural and targeted reform our industry and participants will hopelessly flounder."