Emma Brown’s work at Brown Family Wine Group sits at the point where tradition meets change. As head of innovation and insights, she is helping steer a business with more than 130 years of family history through a wine market being reshaped by shifting tastes, new occasions and heavier expectations around sustainability. Her role, and the path that led her there, reflects a family philosophy that values outside experience before entry into the business. Brown joined the company in 2018 after several years at Treasury Wine Estates and earlier work at Schweppes Australia, bringing commercial experience from beyond the family fold.

That background was not accidental. Brown has explained that the family constitution requires relatives to work elsewhere for at least four years and to hold a relevant university degree before being considered for a position in the business. According to her account, those years away sharpened her interest in consumer marketing and deepened her understanding of the Australian wine industry. At Treasury Wine Estates, where she worked on brands including Penfolds, she developed an appreciation for the discipline required to build and protect a premium label. The experience, she says, reinforced the idea that good brand stewardship is about more than launching campaigns: it is about preserving a legacy.

The scale of Treasury Wine Estates helps explain why that perspective mattered. The Australian global wine group operates across Australia and New Zealand, the Americas, Europe and Asia, with a portfolio that includes Penfolds, 19 Crimes, Wynns Coonawarra Estate and other internationally recognised names. Brown’s career there, according to her profile, included a brand director role before she moved to Brown Family Wine Group. That broader industry exposure now informs her approach to a family company that has also built its reputation on continuity, quality and reinvention.

Brown Family Wine Group, which has its roots in one of Australia’s longest-running wine businesses, says innovation has always been part of its identity. Brown argues that this makes the tension between heritage and experimentation less difficult than outsiders might assume. She describes her family as comfortable challenging convention, while still respecting the standards and stories that underpin the brand. In practice, that means testing ideas against the instincts of older generations and recognising that some concepts may have been ahead of their time when first tried decades ago.

Her current focus is on what the next generation of drinkers will want, and how a family-owned producer can remain relevant without losing its sense of place. Brown has said innovation now means being genuinely consumer-led while also building a more sustainable business for the future. That thinking is already visible in the group’s experimentation with packaging, including a limited-edition prosecco trialled in resealable aluminium bottles, part of a broader push towards more practical and environmentally conscious formats. Brown also sees succession planning as a live issue, not a distant one, especially with 15 members of the fifth generation already ranging from their mid-twenties to toddler age. For her, the task is to leave the business ready for whatever comes next.

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