Monday, October 25, 2010
Riverland growers are not the only ones feeling the pain
Villa Maria Estate is New Zealand’s best medium-plus size winery. The quality of its wines is extraordinarily good, and extraordinarily consistent. But some time ago (I’m not exactly sure when) its vineyards were sold to an entity called Terra Vitae Vineyards but with an exclusive supply agreement to Villa Maria. For a while it looked like a win-win situation. Now Terra Vitae has racked up successive losses of NZ$3.1 million for the ‘08/’09 year, and NZ$4.5 million for the ‘09/’10 year. It is looking at a third straight loss in the current financial year, and facing an uncertain future amid a deeper downturn in the wine sector than ever envisaged.
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2 comments:
What does a susstainable grape price look like? When businesses are de-merged it highlights where the inequities in the value chain lie. It is certainly not large-chain supermarket-owned liquor stores who are suffering..
As a grapegrower and winemaker I would say the only way this sorry turn of events for Terra Vitae can be explained is that Villa Maria Estates cannot take enough fruit and/or not pay enough for it from the vineyards to make them viable....share the pain. Smart demerger though.
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