Delegat’s Contract Vineyard Placed on the Market for Sale

A highly-productive vineyard supplying grapes to one of New Zealand’s biggest and most respected wine producers has been placed on the market for sale.

North Hope Vineyard on the northern outskirts of Blenheim consists of some 7.5 hectares of sauvignon grape plantings – with the resulting fruit all contracted to NZ Stock Exchange-listed Delegat Wine Estate.

Over the past five vintages, North Hope Vineyard has a production average of cropping 107 tonnes of sauvignon blanc annually. Revenue from the 2017 grape growing activities was $185,000. North Hope’s first sauvignon blanc vines were planted in 2000, with the vineyard expanded by almost 50 percent in 2008.

North Hope Vineyard has accreditation from the viticulture quality control organisation Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. Its grapes are exclusively produced for Delegat Wine Estate - one of New Zealand’s most respected wine brands which was founded in 1947, and has subsequently gone on to become a pillar n the Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay wine regions.

The Delegat company has extensive landholdings in Marlborough, while wines from grapes grown in the Wairau Valley and Cloudy Bay are branded under its ‘Marlborough’ label.

The North Hope Vineyard and associated two-storey 372 square metre designer-built five-bedroom executive home among the vines are being marketed for sale by tender through Bayleys Marlborough, with tenders closing on December 7.

Bayleys Marlborough salesperson Andy Poswillo said that in total, the freehold property consisted of 9.54 hectares of flat land situated at 66 Rowley Crescent in the Cloudy Bay district of the fertile Wairau Plains.

Mr Poswillo said North Hope’s supply agreement with Delegat would transfer to the new purchaser of the vineyard for the continuation of grape supply in coming harvests. The vineyard’s plantings consist of 14,500 vines, while the property has a consented irrigation permit to extract 176 cubic metres of water daily.

“With sauvignon blanc being in particularly high demand by both the domestic and internationally-owned labels operating in and around Marlborough the industry is in good shape,” Mr Poswillo said.

“The north-facing vineyard was strategically planted to extract the maximum tonnage from the most efficient usage of the landholding shape. This founding philosophy has proven over the years to have been the correct business decision – as the yields from North Hope Vineyard has constantly delivered solid returns for its owners.

“While the quality of home contained within this offering is very much at the top end of luxury residences in the region, the revenue derived from the vines is certainly not in the ‘lifestyle’ category but is a very much serious vineyard business…. as evidenced by the supply contract to Delegat.”

The concrete tilt-slab home in the Rowley Crescent property was built in 2000, and comes with a solar-heated inground swimming pool, three-car garaging, four heat pumps, and three bathrooms. Vineyard-related buildings on the property consist of two small equipment and machinery storage sheds.

Mr Poswillo said a full crop-management contract with local viticulture services firm Jason Tripe Contracting was available for any new potential owner wanting a “hands-off” involvement while living on the property.

“The Marlborough region is one of new Zealand’s most intensively planted grape growing destinations – and for obvious reasons, is sought-after for its sauvignon blanc landholdings and lifestyle residences,” Mr Poswillo said.

ENDS

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