Delegat's puts $12m into winery

Delegat's Wine Estate is to build a $12 million winery in Marlborough, just west of Renwick.

It will sit on an 8ha vineyard owned by the company that is near the 250ha Oyster Bay vineyard, which is partly owned by Delegat's.

An application for a resource consent was advertised last week, and the company hopes to have the first stage completed in time for next year's harvest.

Managing director Jim Delegat said the full development would take four years and coincide with the Oyster Bay vineyard being brought into production.

Initially, the winery will handle 2500 tonnes of fruit. Its production would be doubled by 2004.

The company first bought land in the Wairau Valley in the mid-1990s to meet demand for the sauvignon blanc and chardonnay wines produced under its Oyster Bay label.

In 1999, Delegat's went to the stock exchange's unlisted securities market to raise $17 million to help finance the development of Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards.

Delegat's has a 30 per cent interest in the vineyard company, which has planted pinot noir, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc grapes.

The new facility will be responsible for producing all the company's Oyster Bay wine, using grapes from the surrounding vineyard and contract growers.

Mr Delegat said the expansion was a direct result of an increase in both export and domestic demand for the wine, which he expected to grow further.

He said the facility would create up to eight new jobs initially.

There were no plans to include the winery on the local wine trail, but he said that could change.

- NZPA