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Elizabeth Knight Business columnist October 16, 2025 — 3.20pm

You could forgive Treasury Wine Estates’ chairman John Mullen for wanting a glass of Penfolds Grange after the week he’s had.

On the one hand, he has had to contend with China’s Politburo cracking down on the country’s alcohol consumption; on the other has been the backlash from a cohort of governance-stickler shareholders who want to replace him.

China is a big market for Treasury Wine, so this government intervention has serious profit implications.

All this at a time when Treasury Wine is “between chief executives”.

Mullen’s dilemma on Thursday was his receipt of a reprimand from shareholders who cast a protest vote against him because they argued he was chairing one too many b

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