Massive vineyard purchase

A Marlborough wine company has snapped up a massive 130-hectare block of vines in a sought-after grapegrowing area, while vineyard prices remain high.

Rapaura Springs Wines’ purchase of the Awatere Valley block, south of Blenheim, is one of the largest vineyard sales in the region this year.

Meanwhile, the billionaire boss of Craggy Range Wines was last month spotted at Marlborough Airport clutching real estate pamphlets, though the Hawke’s Bay-based wine company declined to comment.

Rapaura Springs Wines officially acquired a 365ha property, including the 130ha block of canopy vines, on either side of State Highway 1, on June 1.

General manager Gus Altschwager said the company was ‘‘quite excited’’ about purchasing the property, which they had been using grapes from for the last five years.

‘‘When we saw the land come up for sale, we couldn’t afford to lose that volume of fruit,’’ Altschwager said.

‘‘Now we can improve it and focus on the details.’’

The property was ‘‘one of the driest places to grow in Marlborough’’, but had a creek and a large dam, Altschwager said.

Most of the existing 130ha of grapes were sauvignon blanc, with some pinot gris, but the company also planned to plant pinot noir and chardonnay.

The property would produce about 30 per cent of the company’s total grape supply, with about 60 per cent still coming from the Rapaura area, north of Blenheim.

The Awatere grapes made up ‘‘about a third’’ of the Rapaura Springs wine that won the Sauvignon Blanc Trophy at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2015, Altschwager said.

Co-owner Ian Wiffen said now the company had ‘‘secured the market’’, it could justify investing in vineyards and was looking for more vineyard blocks to purchase.

‘‘One of the catchphrases in the wine industry is, it’s easy to grow grapes and make wine, but it’s really hard to sell it.’’

They found the area produced ‘‘exceptional flavours in pinot noir and chardonnay’’ and the company was considering making a range of wines solely from the new vineyard to showcase the flavours, Wiffen said.

The family-owned company was able to move quickly when the property came up for sale as it did not have to consult foreign owners, Wiffen said.

They would not say how much they paid for the property, but Wiffen said it was ‘‘a little more than we hoped’’.

Vineyard prices were ‘‘getting very expensive’’ and they were aware of blocks in the Wairau Valley going for $350,000 a hectare, he said.

‘‘The land values in some parts of Marlborough are really quite unsustainable ... It just doesn’t pay off at that rate. If you’re buying a multimillion-dollar house with several hectares of sauvignon blanc, that’s a lifestyle, not a business.

‘‘From a supply point of view it is quite competitive between companies at the moment, competing