Treasury Wine Estates to sell two Hawke’s Bay vineyards

Treasury Wine Estates has put two of its Hawke’s Bay vineyards, used to produce its Matua label, up for sale with a combined asking price of NZ$6.6 million.

Vineyards in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

TWE has officially placed its Dartmoor Vineyard, near Napier, and Matheson Vineyard, in the Bridge Pa Triangle, up for sale, which it had used to produce its Matua label.

It follows the company’s announcement in 2015 that it would be closing its Matua Auckland winery, as well as its packaging and cellar door site, consolidating the company’s New Zealand production into its Matua Marlborough winery, which has undergone a multi-million dollar expansion over the past two years.

The closure was part of Treasury’s ongoing plans to optimise its supply chain and slash costs by AUS$30m by removing complexity from its operations. Matua also has vineyards in Marlborough and Central Otago.

Matheson Vineyard, situated some 14 kilometres from Havelock North at the junction of State highway 50 and Maraekakaho Road, is a 41,000 hectare property, planted with 36 hectares of multiple grape varieties including 15.17 hectares of Merlot, 2.86 hectares of Malbec, 3.6 hectares of Syrah, 3.07 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, 5.2 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 6.16 hectares of Chardonnay.

Matheson’s first vines were the cabernet sauvignon and malbec strains planted in 1996 and 1997 respectively. The bulk of the remaining vines were planted between 2000 and 2003.

Meanwhile, Dartmoor Vineyard, on the outskirts of Napier, spans 33.18 hectare, of which 28.65 hectares is planted with Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The block sits directly alongside the banks of the Tukaekuri River.

The first Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted at Dartmoor in 2001 and steadily added to over the following four years. Some six hectares of Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted at the end of last year after the former Chardonnay stock was removed.

Matheson Vineyard has a guide selling price of NZ$4.38 million, and Dartmoor Vineyard NZ$2.2 million. The vineyards are being marketed jointly by Bayleys Auckland and Bayleys Napier, but could be sold separately or as a pair, said Bayleys Napier viticulture specialist Glynn Rees-Jones.

“Dartmoor Valley is renown among viticulturists for being virtually frost-free – meaning the land is prime for replanting into pip fruit production or other crop land usage,” he said. “Surrounding properties within the valley are extensively utilised for orcharding and cropping purposes, and given the high dollar values currently being derived for apples and kiwifruit on the export market, there is every potential the vineyard could be repurposed to produce an apple or kiwifruit crop.

“Conversely, located within the highly fertile Ngatarawa sub-region, the quality of grapes harvested from Matheson Vineyard are primarily used for award-winning single block wines, with consequential premium prices being achieved on the retail shelves.”

Both vineyards were being sold without ongoing supply contracts, which means they could be converted to other uses, with tenders for each property closing on April 20.