Canadians buy Marlborough vineyard

Kim Crawford Wines, which is wholly owned by Canada's Vincor International, has bought a 6500 tonne winery at Riverlands Estate near Blenheim for $17.8 million.

The winery has been leased to Kim Crawford, Saint Clair Estate Winery and Cape Campbell Wines by New Zealand Wineries, which established the facility.

Those lease agreements extend into next year.

Saint Clair Estate Winery plans to build another facility for its operations in the future, allowing Kim Crawford to expand production if necessary and focus solely on its own winemaking processes and quality. There was potential for Riverlands to be expanded to 9000 tonnes.

This year Kim Crawford expects to process about 4000 tonnes of grapes, including vintages from Gisborne and the Hawke's Bay.

Kim Crawford made a name for itself as one of New Zealand's first "virtual wineries", processing grapes at leased facilities and marketing the product from home.

In 2003 Kim Crawford sold its brand name to Vincor for $18 million .

Meanwhile, the recent purchase of the 25 per cent stake in Whitehaven by E & J Gallo Winery also indicates the further evolution of relationships between offshore companies and Marlborough wineries.

E & J Gallo Winery is the largest producer of wine in the United States and last year became an exclusive distributor of Whitehaven wines in the US and Canada last year.

At the time Whitehaven said the deal would allow it to treble its production in upcoming vintages.

The US company bought out two shareholders in the recent deal, which comes hard on the heels of Whitehaven's approval to double the capacity of its Rapaura winery to 5000 tonnes.

The purchases were subject to approval from the Overseas Investment Commission. New figures on approvals showed more than $23 million was invested by offshore companies in Marlborough wineries and vineyards last year.

- NZPA