Northburn plans to sell its 23ha vineyard and The Shed cellar door and function centre in Cromwell to Cloudy Bay Vineyards, subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.
Cloudy Bay is part of the Moet Hennessy Wine Division, which in turn is part of LVMH, a merger between Moet Hennessy and Louis Vuitton.
Northburn has been granted consent by the Central Otago District Council to subdivide one block into two allotments with areas of 5.27ha and 4.72ha and one of those parcels of land is included in the conditional deal with Cloudy Bay.
Terra Sancta owners Mark Weldon and Sarah Elliot, under the name of the Tane and Miro Trust, have also been granted consent to subdivide land on Cornish Point Rd into areas of 4847sq m and 6.26ha.
They plan to sell the smaller block and establish a pinot noir vineyard on the bigger block.
The couple bought the former Olssens vineyard, one of the pioneering vineyards in the Bannockburn area, in 2011 and rebranded it as Terra Sancta.
Planning hearings on both subdivisions were held a fortnight ago and the decisions have recently been made public.
During the hearing on the Northburn subdivision, BTW South planner Martell Letica, submitting on behalf of Northburn, said dividing the property would allow one block, used for general farming activities, to be retained as part of the Northburn farming operation, which Tom and Jan Pinckney would continue to own and farm.
The other block, developed as a vineyard, would be sold to Cloudy Bay.
The status quo would be maintained as far as land use was concerned.
In its decision, the council said it was satisfied the proposed subdivision would not have an adverse effect on the open space, landscape, natural character or amenity values of the rural environment.
The subdivision would not happen on hills and ranges and would not compromise the landscape or amenity values of prominent hillsides and terraces.
Consent was granted subject to seven conditions.
The council was told the trust involved in the Cornish Point subdivision had three other vineyards, in Felton Rd and Cairnmuir Rd, comprising 33ha of grapes on 36ha of land.
It wanted to develop another vineyard on 5.9ha of the biggest block of land in the proposed subdivision.
The council granted consent subject to 18 conditions.
