By Meg Riley
Endeavour Group, the parent company of Dan Murphy’s, BWS and Pinnacle Drinks, has released a statement in response to Dr Craig Emerson’s review of the grape and wine sector which was published yesterday.
Dr Emerson’s report, titled Review of Regulatory Options for the Wine and Grape Sector, raised several concerns around the “oligopolistic” nature of certain retailers, naming Endeavour Group among others such as Coles Group, and suggested that these retailers had an unfair advantage over smaller players in the wine industry.
One of Dr Emerson’s 14 recommendations from the report was that labelling practices must be transparent. Another advised that retailers make sales data and market reads accessible for independent winemakers. Both of these recommendations named both Endeavour Group and Coles Group explicitly in their examples.
“Endeavour Group is the largest domestic retailer of wine, with around 40 per cent of the domestic retail market by volume,” said Dr Emerson’s report. As reported in Dr Emerson’s review, Endeavour owns roughly 1,700 retail stores, through which it also sells its own wine. This wine, produced by Pinnacle Drinks (also owned by Endeavour) accounts for an estimated 15% of Endeavour’s wine sales, and its labelling is “opaque” about its affiliation with Endeavour, Dr Emerson highlighted.
Dr Emerson noted in his report that he had obtained the agreement from both Endeavour Group and Coles Group that the companies would “transition over the next two years to publishing on the back labels of their wines the ultimate owner of the winery and the owner’s address”.
Endeavour said it welcomed the release of Dr Craig Emerson’s review, and added that it “looks forward” to working with the government as it considers the recommendations made.
“As the report outlines, Endeavour Group has already agreed to collaborate on a range of initiatives put forward by Dr Emerson, including in relation to labelling and the provision of industry insights,” said the company.
“Endeavour Group is deeply committed to the Australian wine industry, and supports the Government’s efforts to strengthen relationships and ways of working across the value chain.”
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