US winemaker buys lifestyle block

A top American wine producer and specialist in pinot noir cloning has been granted Overseas Investment Commission approval to buy a 5.2ha Gibbston Valley lifestyle vineyard block for $1.2 million.

Millionaire viticulturist and winemaker Gary Andrus has signed to buy an established hobby vineyard and home, just out of Queenstown, from Dave and Colleen Murfin.

He plans to add a further 1ha of pinot noir plantings to the approximately 3.5ha of established pinot noir and pinot gris grapes, first planted by the Murfins in 1994.

The commission said Andrus would use his established sales networks in the United States to export up to 8000 cases of wine annually. He is understood to have sold substantial interests in two major American vineyards.