Sir George Fistonich ‘gutted’ at loss of Villa Maria vines, estate, concert venue | T-10 NEWS

Villa Maria founder Sir George Fistonich is “gutted” at the loss of about 18,000 vines, a vineyard and concert venue after he struck financial trouble and lost control of the business.

The $4.8 billion NZX-listed
landlord Goodman Property Trust bought most of the site where for decades grapes for the award-winning wines were grown after Villa Maria was put into receivership.

Goodman owns the land and is planning a comprehensive warehouse-logistics development off Montgomery Rd near Auckland Airport. The removal of vines, irrigation systems, posts, wires and other infrastructure is the first step in that change.

But that has saddened Fistonich.

“I am gutted that I was prevented from being able to protect this valuable site. I am disappointed that future international and domestic visitors will not get to share in its true beauty. The sale absolutely did not need to happen.”

But the banks disagreed and called in the receivers.

The grapes grown on the land were chardonnay, some Gewürztraminer, and a small number of Albarino.

The irrigation was a drip system. Originally about 10ha of the site was planted in grapes but that was reduced to about 8ha when more space was needed for concerts.

Villa Maria’s first grapes were planted there around 2001.

Fistonich founded the wine business in 1961 but lost control when Villa Maria Estate’s parent company FFWL was put into receivership by ANZ Bank and Rabobank.

Brendon Gibson and Neale Jackson, of Calibre Partners, were appointed and have listed creditors as being owed $211 million.

A wine grower said replanting 18,000 vines elsewhere was “unlikely” to succeed and mulching or chipping them was probably the only option.

“It’s a great pity but they’re probably almost coming to the end of their life span anyway although they could have remained producing for about another decade. If anything, Hawke’s Bay would probably be the best spot for them but it’s a huge job. Vineyards get a lot of trunk disease after 20 years and they may have been getting tired anyway,” the vintner said.

Last year, Goodman chief executive John Dakin said that business intended to create a high-quality business park on what is now vineyards where concerts and events are held.

“Hopefully we can do something that would make Sir George, the community, us and our customers proud and that we’ve done the right thing,” Dakin said.

Goodman paid $75m for the site, thought to be a low price. The trust didn’t get the winery or other buildings which were purchased by Indevin who bought the whole Villa operational business. That separation also disappointed the ex-owner.

Fistonich said the “destruction” of 35ha of the vineyard was a “travesty. Once the bulldozers are there, this asset will be lost forever.”

Dakin said the land was already zoned light industrial, meaning it was perfect for Goodman’s plans to build thousands of square metres of warehousing and logistical buildings.

Master planning would take most of this year and then Goodman would be in a consenting phase. It was unlikely that any major construction work would take place until around 2024 or 2025.

“Acquiring land is difficult and very competitive but we just want to take our time because it means a lot to a lot of people,” Dakin said.

Multi-level buildings were not planned “but [if] we’re still working our way in eight to 10 years, that might be a possibility. We’re taking three to four years before we start building.”

Planning would take one to two years, then civil works lasting probably another year would need to happen. Discussions with iwi would be required before full planning took place.

“The whole area around the airport has an interesting history with a number of different iwi having an interest in that area. We’ve been in touch with the ones we’re aware of.

“We just want to make sure we’re listening to the parties who have an interest and work in a constructive way. We’re in the very early stages of working through that,” Dakin said.

In June, the Herald reported Fistonich lost the opening skirmish against the receivers in court.

The High Court’s Justice Gerard van Bohemen this year dismissed Fistonich’s attempts to prevent receivers from setting aside millions to defend themselves against claims he lodged against them.

The origins of the dispute date back to concerns from Villa Maria’s bankers ANZ and Rabobank about governance, management and debt levels. In 2020 Fistonich agreed to explore the sale of the winery business and surplus land, but following a sales process, he believed the prices on offer were too low and withdrew his consent.

This triggered a default and saw the receivers appointed to settle the sales, but the process also served to crystallise the acrimony, the Herald reported in June.