By James Atkinson
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is facing a social media campaign led by McLaren Vale's Ducks In A Row, regarding the boutique winery's use of an amphora that Treasury owns.
On the same day as Treasury CEO David Dearie tackled critics of 'big wine', Ducks In A Row – founded in 2009 by former Penfolds winemaker Glenn James and partner, Amanda Pritchard – wrote a blog detailing their grievance with TWE over its insistence that the amphora be returned.
Ducks In A Row used the vessel to make 567 bottles of Pandora's Amphora, a unique blend of handpicked Vermentino, Fiano and Moscato Giallo that won several accolades, including a listing in wine critic Max Allen's "dream dozen".
Allen himself has joined a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #savepandora urging TWE to allow Ducks In A Row to continue using the amphora beyond the agreed two-year loan period, which ends today.
But TWE group head of corporate affairs, Roger Sharp told TheShout the tussle over the amphora is "really a very simple situation".
"The amphora is TWE property, which they themselves acknowledge. We lent it to them in good faith, and at the end of the agreed loan period, expect it returned in good faith," he said.
In a separate statement, TWE said it was surprised by the reaction on the issue.
"We've had numerous contacts with Glenn over recent weeks regarding the return of the amphora and on all occasions he’s agreed it will be returned at the end of the loan period," the company said.
"As former employees of our business, we supported Ducks In A Row to experiment with their amphora winemaking by loaning them the vessel but the amphora is and will remain, the property of TWE. We agreed this was a temporary loan in a written letter signed by both parties."
"The amphora is an important historical asset of Treasury Wine Estates and part of a matching pair recorded on our historical assets register. While we were happy to loan the vessel for a set period which all parties agreed to, it was always intended to be returned to TWE at the end of the loan," TWE said.