All change at the station

Previous || > Next

A new wine-making facility, museum and hotel at Gibbston Valley Station is expected to be opened by the end of next year.

Greg Hunt, chief executive of Gibbston Valley Winery, which is developing the 400ha Gibbston Valley Station project, told the Otago Daily Times the self-financed owners of both properties were now ready to move on the development after two years of preparation.

Site works began last year for the relocation of the wine-making facility from next to the courtyard into a new building near the barrel hall.

''After this coming harvest in April-May, we'll look at moving the winery facility, and that is exciting,'' Mr Hunt said.

The new facility will be constructed in six months and will need to be ready for the 2014 harvest.

The move will free up a shed, which will be converted to a museum and also serve as a meet-and-greet area for customers.

''We are a pioneering winery,'' Mr Hunt said.

''[Gibbston Valley Wines founder] Alan Brady and others have a lot of mementos and photos and I want to put all that on display.

''My goal would be to have it open by the summer of 2014. It's another thing to engage people when they visit the winery.''

Design work for the resource-consented hotel project is expected to be finalised this year and it is hoped construction will begin next year.

The 50 cottage-style units will be built in small clusters on a separate title.

''We've got a lot of things to tie into the hotel. From there, we'd be looking at the start of the golf course development, tentatively in 2014.''

The Gibbston summer concert returns for its third year on February 23 with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Bachman and Turner and America performing live for an anticipated 15,000 fans.

''We are now in a position with what we have achieved at the winery to move to our next stage of development,'' Mr Hunt said.