Treasury Wine Estates says new world-class Barossa bottling operation can boost production

Treasury Wine Estates says its new $165m bottling operation in the Barossa Valley is the largest in the southern hemisphere.

Treasury Wine Estates has the ability to boost its premium winemaking output by a third after going live with its new $165m bottling operation in the Barossa Valley, the company says.

The maker of premium brands including Penfolds, Wolf Blass and Pepperjack on Wednesday cut the ribbon on the plant, which includes four bottling lines with the capacity to package 216 million bottles of wine per year.

It has onsite winemaking capacity of 100 million litres per year, employing about 400 staff permanently and up to 600 during peak vintage periods.

Treasury chief supply officer Kerrin Petty said the project had been developed over the past two and half years.

“Our history in this region dates back to 1859 and today’s opening of our new site signals our commitment to the community and South Australia for many years to come,” Mr. Petty said.

“The new site is purpose-built for premium winemaking with the flexibility to scale up or down production depending on demand, which is crucial given the ebbs and flows of wine production.

Treasury Wine Estates chief executive Tim Ford at the new Barossa site.

“Sustainability has been front of mind throughout the entire project with the new infrastructure allowing us to manage the impacts of climate change on vintages and ensuring we can protect our most valuable grapes and produce the highest quality wine even in challenging years.’’

Treasury is installing solar panels to offset 22 per cent of the site’s energy use, and has also installed a 254 megalitre dam to store treated waste water in winter for use irrigating vineyards in the warmer months.

“As always, the safety of our people is our number one priority and we’ve been able to implement improved safety initiatives including being the first in Australia to use automated guided vehicles to manage our barrel movements as well as using new automated tank technology to check on the wine which reduces the need for our team members to frequently enter tanks,’’ Mr Petty said.

The new winemaking site also includes a 4500sq m Icon Cellar building “which represents global best practice for luxury winemaking and provides visitors with the VIP treatment to experience and tour the winemaking process’’.

BY THE NUMBERS

- The site can produce 100 million litres of wine per year and package 216 million bottles

- 65,000 barrels are located on-site including 26,000 relocated from Penfolds

- there are four bottling lines which can process 75,000 bottles per hour

- there are 400 permanent staff and up to 600 during vintage