Cockatoo Ridge Wines has taken itself into administration after succumbing to a tough period for the Australian wine industry.

Cockatoo Ridge management said yesterday (20 January) that it has voluntarily appointed BDO Kendalls as administrator for the South Australia wine firm.

Poor trading means that Cockatoo Ridge is “likely to become insolvent” in its fiscal third quarter, which runs to the end of March, management said.

The firm’s collapse is a long way from the glamour of early 2008, when it unveiled ex-Miss Australia Erin McNaught as the face of the Cockatoo Ridge brand.

Its subsequent demise highlights a painful period for Australia’s wine industry, which is producing between 20m and 40m cases more than it is selling annually, according to official figures.

Cockatoo Ridge was upbeat in its most recent trading update, issued in July 2009.

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Sales, it said at the time, had made “pleasing progress” and costs had been cut by AUD2m (US$1.8m) per year.

But the warning signs were there, with the group adding that it would potentially sell off non-core assets as it worked with its auditors to reduce debt.

Accounts filed in February last year show that the group breached banking covenants in the half-year to the end of December 2008.

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