Australian Vintage’s Julian Dyer is to step up as acting general manager for the UK and Ireland as Paul Schaafsma moves to Accolade Wines.

Chief executive Neil McGuigan told Harpers that it would be “business as usual” for the company, which owns the McGuigan and Nepenthe brands.

Dyer moved to Australian Vintage as senior business manager from Sainsbury’s, where he was senior buyer, in March 2012.

“We just have to work out our game plan over the next couple of weeks regarding resources,” said McGuigan.

“Paul did a fantastic job, we’ve just got to continue with his good work.”

The firm will go through a formal recruitment process over the next few weeks, McGuigan said, as it only learned of the changes a couple of weeks ago.

McGuigan will be visiting the UK and Ireland between September 4 to 9, when the brand will be hosting its City Vineyard in Dublin.  “We’ve got a lot of good coverage,” McGuigan said, “we’re hoping it could be the biggest wine event in Ireland.”

In a report recently published on Britain’s 100 Biggest Alcohol Brands by Harpers’ sister publication the Grocer, McGuigans boosted its UK off-trade sales by £19.5 million, up 31% to £82.1 million on the previous year, according to Nielsen data to April 28, 2012.