Casella Family Brands is a family-owned wine company based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Its most well-known brand name is yellow tail .

History

According to the company website, Casella Family Brands was started in 1969 by founders Maria Casella and Filippo Casella, who had immigrated from

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

to Australia. They purchased land in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1965, beginning to grow grapes for local winemakers. They produced their own wines starting in 1969. The company began selling its Yellow tail brand in the United States in 2001. In Feb. 2016, Casella began selling beer, with a Yellow Tail lager sold in the United States. Casella Family purchased the brand Morris Wines of Rutherglen from Pernod Ricard Winemakers in Jul. 2016, taking full ownership. In 2018, Casella Family Brands was reportedly worth $ 1.5 billion. That year, Marcello Casella, who owned 30 % of the company and who had left management in 2014, plead guilty to helping conceal marijuana plants in Australia.

Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Coca-Cola Europacific Partners plc, also known as CCEP, is a British multinational bottling company operating as world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottler by net revenue. Involved in the marketing, production, and distribution of Coca-Cola ...

sold its stake in the

Australian Beer Co Casella Family Brands is a family-owned wine company based in Australia. Its most well-known brand name is yellow tail . History According to the company website, Casella Family Brands was started in 1969 by founders Maria Casella and Filip ...

. business to Casella Family Brands in Jan. 2022. In Nov. 2022, Casella Family Brands divested around 7,000 hectares and 35 properties in Australia to Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The sale took place after Casella reportedly had a strategic review that May, and decided to divert funds from being vineyard owners into brand building. In Nov. 2022 the company was the largest family-owned winery in Australia, and the largest exporter of wine by volume in the country as well, with ellow tailaccounting for around 17 % of all Australian exported wine. In 2022 it was also ranked the third largest Australian wine company by total production and fourth largest by total revenue. It acquired the brand Ampersand in Nov. 2023 through its subsidiary

. As of 2023, it is led by managing director John Casella.

Brand names

The company sells wine and beer under several brand names, and since 2021 it also sells whisky under the Morris of Rutherglen brand. In 2023 the company lists these as brands: Yellow Tail, Peter Lehmann Wines, The Magic Box Wine Collection, Brand's Laira of Coonawarra, Morris of Rutherglen, Baileys of Glenrowan, and Atmata. As well as the ellow tailbrand, Casella Family Brands has produced and sold several other wine labels, including: *Brand's Laira ( Coonawarra) * Peter Lehmann Wines (

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

) *Young Brute (

Wrattonbully Wrattonbully is a wine region in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia's South East, between the Padthaway and Coonawarra regions, between the Riddoch Highway and the Victorian border.Longbottom et al., 2011, page 20 The Wrattonb ...

) *Morris of Rutherglen (

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

) *Casella * Shaw Family Vintners ( Currency Creek)

References

Australian wine Privately held companies of Australia Family-owned companies of Australia Breweries in Australia {{winery-stub