Accolade Wines

[6] Accolade Wines traces its beginning to Thomas Hardy and Sons, a company founded in 1853 which grew to become Australia's largest winemaker.

At 20 years of age, Thomas Hardy arrived in South Australia after sailing from the English county of Devon in 1850.

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.

[8] In 1938, then chairman Tom Mayfield Hardy was killed in an aeroplane crash along with other leading South Australian winemakers.

In 1976, Thomas Hardy and Sons made its first corporate acquisition by purchasing the London-based Emu Wine Company, which included Houghton (Western Australia's largest winery) and Morphett Vale.

It has branch offices in the United Kingdom (Weybridge and Bristol), Australia (Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne), and South Africa (Stellenbosch), as well as in Moscow, Warsaw, Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing and California.

The business is the largest wine company by volume and value in the United Kingdom and Ireland, a highly-competitive market with thin margins.

[11] Its popular brands there include: The chief executive from October 2015 to August 2016 was Paul Schaafsma, who previously worked for Australian Vintage.