R Wines in Receivership.

[KMP]

R Wines, founded in 2005 by partners Dan Philips (of Grateful Palate fame), and Chris Ringland, has apparently gone bottom up. Any one know any more about this?

Mike

PS. Maybe someone in Adelaide can drop by and see if the lights are still on!
The Grateful Palate Imports, 171 O'Connell Street, North Adelaide.

[n4sir]

I first heard they were in serious trouble when their major export market disappeared at the time the GFC hit last year (I think that's about 9 months ago now). It isn't a surprise.

Cheers,
Ian

[KMP]

I think they had been in trouble for longer than that Ian. In mid-late 2008 the Grateful Palate dropped numerous brands from their Aussie portfolio and there have been deep discounts on those wines ever since. At the time it looked as though their focus would be on the expanding R Wines list (a Wine Advocate favorite) but it seems like that has not made the grade. Its going to be interesting to see if any Aussie wine producers can fill the space left - that is if the American consumer wants it filled.

Mike

[n4sir]

I meant serious trouble as in unlikely to be recoverable.

Check out post 16 of this related thread by the way - it says R Wines has been under bank administration for some time:

http://winetalk.com/forum/showthread.ph ... s-bankrupt!

[DaveB]

This has been coming for ages....huge jump in production, didn't pay any growers. Some very dodgy trade-marking stuff with Aussie brands in the U.S. happening also. A shame because Chris is a great bloke.

[Burtonboy]

I'm not sure a great bloke is someone that doesn't pay growers amongst other dodgy dealings he's done in the past.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time for these guys as KMP states. It wasn't that they were dropping brands it was a case of brands dropping GP for shady dealings which almost cost several brands their entire business.

Not one of the 14 companies he originally put on his books to represent has been with him over the last 2 years. These 14 wine makers are a close group friends and when two almost went under do to said dodgy dealings they all jumped ship which was the beginning of the end.

Sad in a way that some great wines lose an avenue to the US market but perhaps for the better if malpractice is a common theme when dealing with GP.

[DaveB]

So who is Burtonboy?....one of the ITB blokes in the U.S. or an Aussie?

[beachbum1971]

Well it explains how Dans got it's hands on the 08 CR Shiraz about a month ago.

[smithy]

Not surprised.
The US market had been corrupted in a fashion even before the GFC.
The system of relying on points from gurus who tasted openly (labels on display) with very select importers and winemakers led to a massively distorted market.
Some wines were very overpriced and a few did exceptionally well at the expense of the long term Aussie wine industry.
We lost credibility. Especially as there seemed a premium for low acid or softer red maybe with the bits of Grenache etc in them. Stuff that was never really going to live.
Winemakers may have thought it was going to last forever, or that the wines they were sending really were special.
Never believe your own marketing!
Bottom ine is that they weren't sending wine to the US for Parker or Tanzer or whoever. They were sending it to the nameless faces who bought the wine from their local bottleshop.
It was those who need to be satisfied.
If they got turned off, by price, or by style, well......
When there was heaps of money a bit of dissapointment on the 98 point Aussie red that fell apart could be handled...when the disposable income falls, that tends to annoy people.
Sad to see anyone in recievership. For the winemakers the growers etc.
But its bad business for the industry as well.
The US market crash has led to a massive amount of bigname reds being discounted on the local market....trouble is the US hype just loses a lot in translation into the language of Aussie winebuyers.

[Burtonboy]

So who is Burtonboy?....one of the ITB blokes in the U.S. or an Aussie?

He's an Aussie with shady contacts in the wine industry

It was probably a little harsh to say he's not a nice guy, I'm sure a personal level he is. So I retract that statement and perhaps should have stated that when it comes to decision making, particularly those regarding business there is a little left to be desired. A lot of people who have been affected by this closure would be considered close or formally close friends, depending on the losses. The wine industry is a small place so you lose face quickly if you err.

I also think there is a little more to it than just blaming the US market entirely on the failings of GP and that is the question that should be asked. I continue to deal with current and former customers of GP (or should that be all former customers now?) who are doing exceptionally well, particularly to the US market despite the apparent disdain for Aussie wine and the ever present grey cloud that is the GFC.

I'm talking producers shipping 5,000 - 100,000 cases a year to the US which outside of the big 3 is significant volume for our wineries. Those size accounts were the bread and butter of GP. These producers are selling the exact same wine that they were back in the days when GP was going gang busters in the US. So we can certainly blame the market to some extent that is a given. However I think if you delve into some of the acquisition and selling of various assets in recent times as well as poor decision making the picture is pretty clear why things went belly up.

Again it's sad for our wine industry because the initial battle plan of GP provided the suppliers an exceptional leg up in to a pretty tough market which is the US.