Winemaker, Barossa Valley Estate has signed a deal with BCW International Trading to take advantage of the booming Chinese wine market.

The new agreement will help BVE to expand its sales into China for its iconic brands including Ebenezer and the E&E Black Pepper Shiraz. E&E Black Pepper Shiraz is rated as “Outstanding” in the Langton’s classification and has averaged 94 points over the past 11 years by Wine Spectator magazine.

“We are so pleased to be embarking on the next phase of Barossa Valley Estate’s growth with the dynamic and energetic team at BCW,” says BVE Chief Executive, Christine Hahn.

“We have been working with BCW for the last 12 months and felt the time was right to enter into a longer term agreement to seize the opportunities offered by the rapidly growing Chinese wine market.”

BCW is the Australian arm of Archibald Wine which sells premium wines across China.

The move marks BVE’s further progress towards becoming an independent Barossa winery after grower shareholders bought back Accolade Wine’s 50% shareholding in March 2011, enabling it to become 100% grower-owned again.

In Australia, BVE has appointed Déjà vu Wine Company to manage distribution in the eastern states. Options Wine Merchants will distribute the portfolio in SA and in WA, Fine Wine Wholesalers.

Both Options and Fine Wine Wholesalers have been assessed to be the most successful on-premise distributors that operate solely in one State by Wine Business Solutions On-Premise research.

In Canada and New Zealand, BVE will retain Constellation Brands Inc subsidiaries, Vincor Canada and Constellation New Zealand, both dominant operators in their respective countries.

BVE has begun exporting direct to all international markets and no longer sells its wines to Accolade Wines.

“In the last 12 months we have changed our shareholders, Board of Directors, world-wide distributors and bottling company, so I look forward to working with the BVE team in capitalising on the many opportunities available for Barossa Valley Estate,” says Christine Hahn.

Updated 6 July 2012