Endeavour Group is dumping some of its prestige wineries as chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka sharpens the company’s focus on lower costs. Hrdlicka said Endeavour is getting out of wineries, but she still wants to keep selling brands such as Oakridge in its bottle shops.
The move puts a hard edge on a shift that had been building inside the drinks retailer: own less, spend less and keep the brands that still move through the tills. Oakridge, which makes a $100 bottle of chardonnay, is one of the names Hrdlicka wants to remain available to shoppers even if Endeavour no longer owns the assets behind it.
That distinction matters. Endeavour does not have to own its vineyards and bottling facilities to sell wine brands in its bottle shops, and the company appears to be leaning into that model as it trims back more expensive parts of its wine portfolio. In practice, that means the group can keep a label on the shelf while walking away from the capital and operating burden of running the winery itself.
The strategy also fits the broader push to lower costs. Prestige wineries bring status, but they also bring fixed expenses, specialised operations and a level of complexity that can sit uneasily inside a retail business trying to tighten margins. For Hrdlicka, the message is blunt enough to make its own headline: “Ms Execution.”
What makes the change more than a housekeeping exercise is the way it redraws Endeavour’s role in the wine market. The company is not saying it will abandon premium labels altogether. It is saying it may prefer to sell them without owning the land, the vines or the bottling lines that produce them. That gives the group flexibility, but it also strips away a layer of control that usually comes with owning the brand’s supply chain.
For shoppers, the immediate effect is likely to be subtle. The names may stay on bottle-shop shelves, including Oakridge. The backdrop behind those labels, however, is changing. Endeavour is signalling that the future of its wine business may be less about being a winery owner and more about being a seller of wine brands — a narrower, cheaper and more selective business.
