One of Australia’s largest vineyard owners and managers, Australian Vintage, has invested $10 million in a new bottling line at its Merbein packaging operation in Victoria. On the eve of the line’s opening this week, PKN spoke to COO Australasia North America, Cameron Ferguson about what this means for the business.
In the Australian wine industry, Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) holds a strong and relatively stable market position thanks in large part to its fully integrated business model. Its $231 million turnover is derived from a diverse and varied revenue stream, with the breadth of its capabilities extending to vineyard management, boutique and large volume wine production, packaging, marketing and distribution.
The company's new bottling ‘Line 6’, capable of filling both still – and for the first time – sparkling wines, was officially opened this week. It has been a project two years in the making, and one prompted in large part by growing global demand for the wines AVL produces and packages, according to COO Australasia North America, Cameron Ferguson.
“As our business continues its global growth trajectory, we’ve recognised the need to upweight the investment in our packaging capability to meet global demand for our brands, while at the same time driving quality improvement,” he tells PKN.
A key consideration was the ability to produce all pack formats and wine styles within the Australian Vintage framework, across its current brand portfolio and including its core McGuigan products along with the Nepenthe and Tempus Two portfolios. A number of other variants from these brands will also be run down this line in both sparkling and still wine formats.
“The requirement to produce sparkling products on site was also a major factor motivating the investment,” Ferguson says. “The equipment installed is also the most up to date in quality and process, which was also a large contributing factor to the decision to invest in the new line.”
Fully operational since October 2018, the line has enabled an increase in the speed of processing and packaging still wine from the previous rate of 9000 bottles per hour to 11,000, with the additional capacity for 7000 bottles per hour of sparkling wine. Equipment was sourced by Costa Enterprises and installed and integrated by Foodmach.
“The equipment – in terms of filling, dressing and packaging – is the most technological advanced in the wine industry globally. This will allow Australian Vintage flexibility and nimbleness to be able to drive the innovation agenda. The ability of the equipment to be used in various operational modes will dramatically shorten the turnaround of new product development,” Ferguson says.
PKN will publish the full story in the March-April print issue.
