Hawke’s Bay winery complex on the market

One of the largest winery complexes in the Hawke’s Bay – operated by a global wine making and marketing brand - has been placed on the market for sale.

The winery complex on 1.537 hectares of land in Hastings is occupied by wine maker Indevin and contains a full wine-making plant whose product is sold in New Zealand, North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Indevin Group is one of New Zealand’s leading producers of high-quality wine – owning vineyards in Marlborough, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay – crushing grapes from more than 5,000 hectares of planted vineyards.

Along with Hawke’s Bay wineries, Indevin Group operates large wineries in Marlborough and Gisborne - processing sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot gris, rosé, pinot noir and merlot varietals, including for its flagship brand Villa Maria.

As a result of a recent acquisition Indevin’s winery property at 29 James Rochfort Place in Hastings is now surplus to requirements.

The property and all the winery processing machinery and equipment is being jointly marketed for sale by expressions of interest through Bayleys Real Estate, with bids closing on August 31, unless the property is sold prior.

Salespeople Layne Harwood and Mark Evans said the fully operational plant was systems certified to ISO 9001 and processes up to 4,000 tonnes of grapes annually.

“This is a rare opportunity to acquire a large, fully operational winery in a turnkey state. Purpose-built in 2008, the 3,183-square metre processing building comprises grape crop receival and crushing equipment, an enclosed wine production area, laboratory space, tank storage, offices, and staff amenities,” said Harwood.

“Security fencing surrounds the property’s perimeter, with a security gate at the entrance. The front portion of the site is fully sealed for efficient delivery of grapes and staff parking.”

High-quality and well serviced plant and machinery included in the James Rochfort Place offering, if required, features:

· More than 100 stainless steel fermentation tanks ranging in size from 5,000 litres to 80,000 litres

· Stainless steel receival bins and scales, along with crop conveyor systems, feed hoppers and bins accessed by an external elevated truck ramp and three high roller doors for efficient harvest delivery directly to processing equipment

· De-stemmers, wine presses

· Pumps, filters, steam cleaners

· Refrigeration equipment including chillers, water cooling towers, heat exchangers, valves and piping

· Cold and warm glycol systems with tanks, pumps, heat exchangers and pipes

· Compressed air systems with compressors, air dryers and pipes

· Electrical switchboards

· Overhead walkways and supporting infrastructure to enable height management of plant and equipment

· Internal and external barrel storage racking systems

· An overhead travelling gantry crane and lifting equipment.

Evans said Indevin’s imperative requirement to have consistently precise temperatures within the processing plant, meant the building had been maintained to an extremely high level.

The main winery building sits on a heavy concrete slab with a self-draining floor and includes an open gabled structure with a stud height of between eight and 12 metres. It is designed to operate at between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius with a Co2 management system of fans and louvres capturing and removing gas from the premises.

The 156-square metres of offices and staff amenities are contained in a building attached via internal partitioning to the winery plant.

Located in Hastings’ industrial hub of Twyford, the property has a water consent to extract bore water for winery processing purposes with water stored in a series of six 30,000 litre plastic tanks and processed by an on-site water treatment plant.

Harwood said there was future development potential at the location with both front and the rear portions of the property containing undeveloped land used for open storage.

The property is zoned general industrial under the Hastings District Council Operative District Plan.

“With the winery plant located in the centre of the property, it would be relatively straight forward subject to council consents to extend the rear of the building on some 5,000-square metres of land – permitting the potential development of a 2,500-square metre building. Vehicle access to the rear of the site could be laid down along the northern boundary,” Harwood said.

“There is also a substantial area of land at the front of the property which could sustain a standalone building without compromising vehicle and truck movements serving the winery.

“The site is situated amongst other food and beverage related production businesses - such as Cairnbrae Wines, WineWorks Hawke’s Bay, Roosters Brewhouse, Sacred Hill Vineyards, McCain Foods, and Profruit – and is close to several established Hawke’s Bay vineyards.”

The owner would also decommission and remove all the winery related plant and equipment if required.

- Article supplied by Bayleys