Accolade Wines is a major global wine business with headquarters in South Australia.The company is 80 per cent owned by the Australian private equity firm CHAMP Private Equity and 20 per cent owned by the United-States-based alcoh...
See More ol giant Constellation Brands.It began as Thomas Hardy and Sons, a company founded in 1853 by Thomas Hardy in Adelaide, which grew to become Australia's largest winemaker. The company headquarters are in Old Reynella, South Australia.Accolade has more than 1700 employees around the world, with operations in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.HistoryAt 20 years of age, Thomas Hardy arrived in South Australia after sailing from the English county of Devon in 1850. He worked at Reynella Farm for John Reynell, then drove cattle to the Victorian goldfields. Hardy used the money he had earned to purchase a property on the banks of the River Torrens, which he named 'Bankside'.Shiraz and Grenache vines were planted on the Bankside property. Wine was sold locally and in England, and the profits enabled Hardy to buy the Tintara Vineyard Company about 1876. Hardy steadily expanded the company over the years, purchasing a bottling plant at Mile End, cellars on Currie Street in Adelaide, and a disused flour mill in McLaren Vale.