WINE services is shaping up as the new battleground in WA’s fast maturing wine industry, with two groups spending millions on bottling plants in Perth’s southern suburbs.
WINE services is shaping up as the new battleground in WA’s fast maturing wine industry, with two groups spending millions on bottling plants in Perth’s southern suburbs.
Mobile bottling specialist Portavin wants to create a business hub for the WA wine industry at its planned bottling and storage site in Hope Valley, while just down the road in Jandakot, 1Auswines is hoping to have its $3.5 million investment up and running by October.
Nandi Valley Pty Ltd, which has a controlling interest in Portavin, is the latest to signal its interest, recently buying the site for $765,000 from pSivida, the bio-tech reincarnation of the failed Sumich Group.
The 3.4-hectare site was a residual asset of the Sumich Group and had previously been used as the group’s administration and distribution centre.
Nandi Valley owner Mike Davies said Portavin, a mobile wine bottling company that serviced 400 wineries nationally, would build a static bottling line at the site as well as warehouses.
And, as the company would not require the entire site, Mr Davies envisaged several other wine services would move to the Sayer Road site to create a “one-stop-shop” for the industry.
“Portavin want to make it Perth’s wine industry hub, a place where customers can come and get different things done,” Mr Davies said.
“Wineries could have their products stored there, laboratory services could be there, along with barrel and tank suppliers and labelling services.”
The static bottling line would almost be secondary to the storage facilities, but were there simply to offer customers a choice between having the work done at their wineries or at the plant, he said.
Mr Davies said the majority of Portavin’s static bottling would eventually be undertaken at an undisclosed Margaret River site.
Portavin had been on the lookout for a site south of Perth for some time and the Hope Valley property had been chosen for several reasons, including its proximity to export facilities at Fremantle, he said.
But Portavin is not alone in considering Perth’s southern suburbs worthy of a bottling and storage facility.
Its major rival, 1Auswines, has just spent $1.5 million on three hectares of industrial land and a 6000sqm storage facility at nearby Jandakot
The company also is believed to be on the verge of completing the purchase of a $2 million bottling plant from Italy.
1Auswines chief Mick Stroud said the market had to move beyond portable plants and he believed there was ample room for two fixed bottling facilities.
