In the heart of Aotearoa New Zealand's renowned Marlborough wine region, a story of collaboration and innovation has unfolded over two decades as Aurecon and Constellation Brands shape the landscape of wine grape processing.
This dynamic 20 year partnering relationship has supported Constellation Brands to expand from processing capacity from 2,000 tonnes to 46,000 tonnes of wine grapes annually at the brand’s Kim Crawford Winery in Marlborough. This growth has lead to Constellation Brands becoming the producer of the #1 New Zealand wine in the USA and Canada.
The journey began in the early 2000’s when the company identified the need for expansion in a rapidly growing primary industry. With Aurecon’s industrial processing and manufacturing experience, early planning became the foundation of this first project and of our ongoing relationship.
Partnering in process expansion: an established partnership
As the supply of fruit increased in the main growing areas, Aurecon was appointed to assist in the development of a long-term expansion plan, including assisting with the identification of potential new processing sites.
Originally, the head office of the Constellation Brands group was located at Huapai, north of Auckland, in an historic wine growing area, in fact the area where New Zealand’s wine industry first began. The site included a small vineyard, winery, warehouse and bottling plant. At that time, the company’s long-term strategy indicated that the logistics of exporting would move from bottled to bulk, and the limited land development space combined with access to transport networks would favour relocation. The Huapai site was prepared for sale and the head office relocated, with other services contracted out or sold.
Each existing Constellation Brands facility also underwent meticulous scrutiny and enhancement, and following the long-term plan, an additional new winery was established in Hawke’s Bay, then known as Corner 50 Estate (now the Selaks Winery). Aurecon’s input to the environmental assessment, process design and technical delivery advice contributed to the project being awarded the ACE New Zealand Engineering Excellence Merit in 2007.
Each subsequent project has incorporated advances in winemaking processes, to ensure that equipment and facilities meet anticipated growth possibilities and best practice. This approach is founded on a continual focus on quality, health and safety, product traceability, and reduction of environmental impact.
What began as a single project has evolved into an enduring collaboration focused on modernising equipment and refining processes to enhance production capabilities, product quality, and processing efficiencies.
This long-term partnership between Constellation Brands and Aurecon has culminated in the recent Press Hall Project, a reconstruction and automation of the front-end processing system of the company’s Kim Crawford Winery in Marlborough, increasing grape throughput rates by 25 percent.
