New Zealand family-owned wine group Babich Wines has announced plans to develop a new vineyard in Cat Creek in the Marlborough region.
Babich has partnered with the agricultural investor Craigmore Sustainables to fund the project, with Craigmore injecting over NZ$40m ($23.58m).
The prospective winery will sit on 418 hectares, with around 200 hectares being used to grow Sauvignon Blanc vines once complete.
Once the vines have matured, Cat Creek is expected to be able to add 3,000 tonnes of grapes to Babich’s annual production capacity and help its export value increase by an additional NZ$20m per year.
Babich told Just Drinks that the timeline for the project could range between 7-10 years.
The move, the company said, would “help meet the growing demand for Babich’s portfolio of premium New Zealand wines across domestic and international markets”.
Alongside its investment funded by Craigmore, Babich will also upgrade its Riverlands winery facilities in Marlborough “with additional intake infrastructure, technology, and tank capacity”.
Babich said it expects to invest a multi-million sum in improvements to its winery, which will increase processing capacity to allow the Cat Creek vineyard to manage the extra grape supply.
Alongside the Riverlands winery, Babich owns seven vineyards in Malborough which produce a range of wines including Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay.
CEO David Babich said that growing production capacity for Sauvignon Blanc wines was “strategically critical” for the group, “as Marlborough approaches its capacity limits”.
He added: “This partnership with Craigmore provides a timely increase in production capacity and stability of supply, and allows us to retain a high level of control over the entire production process.
“This is critical in helping us to increase supply to meet growing global demand while maintaining the high quality our customers expect.”
Craigmore’s multimillion injection marks its first wine investment in the Marlborough region.
Commenting on the tie-up with Babich, Craigmore general manager for the horticulture category Con Williams said: “Marlborough is globally recognised as having regional attributes well-suited for viticulture and the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc story continues to provide strong long-term fundamentals that make further expansion attractive.”
Babich Wines announced plans to invest in grape supply and production in Marlborough earlier this year. Speaking at the time to Just Drinks at ProWein trade fair in Germany, director and family member Andre Babich said the project could see production boosted by up to 30% by 2029.
