Hardys, one of Australia’s best-known wine brands, with a long and distinguished history. Founder Thomas Hardy was just 20 when he sailed from Devon, England to the new colony of South Australia in 1850. Three years later he founded his winery at Bankside on the River Torrens in Adelaide. Within a few decades he brought his sons into the business creating Thomas Hardy & Sons, exported South Australia’s first wine to the UK, and stimulated the McLaren Vale region’s development. When he died in 1912, he was regarded as one of the fathers of the Australian wine industry and Hardys was cemented in wine history. In 1976 Thomas Hardy & Sons purchased the Emu Wine Company, thereby acquiring Western Australia’s Houghton Wines. In 1982 Hardys completed a neat circle, buying Chateau Reynella in McLaren Vale, whose founder John Reynell had introduced the young Thomas Hardy to winemaking. In 1992 the family business became a public company, merging with Berri Renmano—a riverland wine co-operative—to create BRL Hardy. Hardys is now the flagship brand of accolade wines and comprises a full range of wines capped by the Thomas Hardy and Eileen Hardy labels commemorating respectively the founder and Eileen, the wife of one of his grandsons, Thomas Mayfield Hardy. Eileen was a courageous matriarch who continued the business when it might otherwise have faltered following the untimely death of her husband in a plane crash. Subbrands include Sir James, Tintara, Oomoo, and William Hardy. Banrock Station and Stamp of Australia are important export labels.
