Villa Maria buys top Bay winery

A Bay wine company that has won a stack of awards has been sold to one of the industry's biggest names.
Thornbury Wines - based at Mount Maunganui and formed eight years ago by Bruce and Sharon McCutcheon and Steve Bird and his wife Caroline - has been bought by Villa Maria.
The family-owned company exported most of its premium wine made at Mills Reef Winery to restaurants, casinos and hotels in the United States and Britain - its renowned Sauvignon Blanc soaking up 90 per cent of its production.
This week Thornbury Wines is joining other well known names Vidals and Esk Valley in George Fistonich's Villa Maria group after the multimillion-dollar sale was completed last Friday.
Mr Bird would not disclose the price but he said it was appropriately substantial and just reward for a lot of hard work.
"We mortgaged our houses and started on a shoestring budget and to end up a 50,000 case company is no mean feat. We had achieved brand recognition but access to the market was our biggest challenge.
"We had to re-capitalise and grow, or stay still and shrink," said Mr Bird. "Villa Maria came along and solved all our problems."
Thornbury had plans to expand by building a $5 million winery in Marlborough capable of handling up to 1800 tonnes of grapes a year. Mr and Mrs Bird were keen to press on but Mr and Mrs McCutcheon decided it was time to look at other opportunities.
Mr Bird, who has worked as a winemaker in Australia and New Zealand for 26 years, is staying in the business as a consultant for Villa Maria.
But he is hoping to have another wine company operating under a new brand within a year. Thornbury Wines crushed a record 560 tonnes of grapes this year and expects to produce 46,000 cases of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot gris.
Mr Bird will be on hand when the latest wine is bottled within a month at Villa Maria's winery in Mangere, Auckland. The wine will travel from Mills Reef in barrels and road tankers.
Thornbury Wines owned three vineyards near Blenheim and it also contracted grapes from 14 growers. The company expected to hit full production in 2007 by crushing 1200 tonnes of grapes.
Villa Maria has signed all Thornbury's growers and hired its viticulture staff.
Thornbury Wines won the manufacturing category of the Tauranga Regional Business Awards and was also named the new exporter of the year.
Incredibly, every wine Thornbury has produced since its first vintage in 1998 has won an award or accolade either in New Zealand or internationally.
Just last week its 2003 Pinot Noir won a gold medal at the Japan International Wine Challenge and glasses of sauvignon blanc were being poured at the Bogata Casino in Atlantic City.