Agnew Wines
WHO WE ARE
The Agnew family entered the Australian wine industry in 2004 with the acquisition of the historic Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard in the Hunter Valley.
After extraordinary growth over the subsequent seven years, in 2011 the family acquired the neighbouring Cockfighter’s Ghost and Pooles Rock brands.
Today, Agnew Wines Group produces over 700,000 bottles of award-winning wine per annum across the three labels, in our state of the art 3000 tonne capacity winery.
Our Brands
In 2000 Brian was awarded the Australian Sport Medal by the Federal Government of Australia in recognition of his outstanding service to the thoroughbred industry .In 2006 Brian retired from the law, to focus on establishing and growing Agnew Wines.
Under his Chairmanship, Agnew Wines has enjoyed success in producing numerous trophy and gold medal winning wines as well as achieving unrivaled growth, laying a strong foundation and clear direction forward for many generations to come. In February 2015, Brian lost his battle with pancreatic cancer after 2 ½ years. Brian was a loving husband, father, grandfather and brother.
Valerie succeeded Brian as Chairman of Agnew Wines in 2015, with a singular goal of pursuing their shared ambition of establishing a successful family wine business with Agnew Wines.
James graduated with a Master of Wine Business degree from the University of Adelaide in 2010, was appointed Chairman of the New South Wales Wine Strategy, and is a recent graduate of the prestigious Australian Wine Industry Future Leaders Program. James was made General Manager and Director of Agnew Wines in 2011 and maintains direct responsibility for all operations and export activities.
In 2016 Xanthe’s talents were recognised by her peers, being honoured with the Hunter Valley Wine Industry’s Alasdair Sutherland Scholarship. Her ability to produce highly sought after and contemporary wine styles is not least demonstrated by her first vintage as Winemaker of Cockfighters Ghost Single Vineyard wines where she was a finalist for the ‘Jimmy Watson’, as well as winning multiple trophies and gold medals for this new range.
Xanthe took over the helm as Chief Winemaker officially in July 2019. Recently, Xanthe was nominated as a Finalist in the Gourmet Traveller ‘2022 Winemaker of the Year’ awards.
After starting a family in 2009, she took the opportunity to enter the growing family business and now oversees all financial and operational aspects of the Agnew Wines business and the associated companies.
