Villa Maria Winery
The gesture of a case of wine kicked off a 17 years friendship – Sir George Fistonich couldn’t think of a better-qualified person to award his dream project: a world-class winery in Hawke’s Bay.
Villa Maria Winery
It all started with a barbeque. Bevan Wood, NZCCL owner and managing director, was entertaining friends al fresco one evening when there was a knock on the front door.
Bevan was new to the neighbourhood and thought it was probably a neighbour complaining about the noise but was pleasantly surprised to find Sir George Fistonich, founder of Villa Maria, standing at his door with a case of wine. “Welcome to the neighbourhood,” he said. The gesture, so typical of the gregarious George, kicked off a friendship – and 17 years later, Sir George couldn’t think of a better-qualified person to award his dream project: a world-class winery in Hawke’s Bay.
In the late 1990s, the founder and owner of New Zealand’s most iconic wine brand had a vision for a three-stage development of wineries.
The first was built in Marlborough in 2000, followed by a winery and vineyard park in Auckland in 2005. The third stage would be the most ambitious. In 2008, Te Awa Winery in the Hawke’s Bay, purchased by Villa Maria in 2017, was earmarked to become a world-first: the new winery would feature an innovative laboratory with state-of-the-art technology to take over the mechanical and processing work from the winemaker, enabling the vintners to focus on the grapes to extract every bit of quality. The world-class winery would bring five of Villa Maria’s winemakers together to make superior wine whilst maintaining their own individual winemaking styles. Plus it would showcase the brand’s extensive portfolio.
The new building, representing the best of Villa Maria, needed the best commercial construction builder. Sir George turned to his neighbour, Bevan.
With a challenging deadline of just under nine months, it was a construction project that would defy all the odds.
Bevan’s skill quickly emerged when he sketched out Sir George’s ideas.
Images of Villa Maria Winery
He [Bevan] is incredibly flexible… He does his own drafting, which is quite an unusual talent for a builder. This gives him the ability to change things quickly and to look at designing cost-effective structures.
Sir George Fistonich | 2018
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