By Andrew Starke
Constellation Brands has offered voluntary redundancy packages to a number of staff amid speculation it may look to cut as many as 30 jobs from its wine operation.
The decision follows a review of the Constellation Wines Australia business.
A spokesperson for the company denied that a final number of cuts had been decided but confirmed that these would mainly take place at Constellation’s operations at its Tintara winery in McLaren Vale.
“I can confirm that we have offered voluntary redundancies to a number of staff at Tintara,” she said.
“I can't provide numbers because we are waiting for the responses to come back to us.”
In a statement to TheShout, Constellation Brands said the Australian wine industry had been, and continues to operate, under challenging conditions both here, in the UK and in many of its international markets.
“In response, in recent months, Constellation Wines have invested considerable time in reviewing our business structure, from operations through to sales and marketing,” said the statement.
“We have made some difficult decisions to ensure profitability while we move to secure and grow our markets.
“One of the decisions we have taken is that we must maintain focus on our key brands and ensure that we continue strongly support our icon brands.”
The company said it was scaling down its Tintara operation so that it could focus on ‘icon brands’ such as Tintara, Eileen Hardy and Thomas Hardy.
“Regrettably positions within the winery, laboratory and maintenance at Tintara will be impacted,” said the spokesperson.
“Our cellar door facilities at Tintara are unaffected and will continue to sell our excellent range of wines.”
In March the company laid-off 40 staff at its South Australian bottling headquarters as the global wine giant repositioned resources closer to its core UK market.
At the time, a spokesperson for Constellation Brands in Australia told TheShout that the cuts were a direct result of the company’s decision to prioritise Constellation Park in the UK, its flagship bottling facility.