Constellation spending $20 Million on its California wineries, vineyards

 VICTOR, N.Y.

 September 26, 2013 7:17am 

 •  Most of the expansion is in the Central Valley

•  “A wise investment that is not only good for Constellation Brands, but good for the local economies”

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) says it’s spending over $20 million in several of its California wineries and vineyard operations to expand its growing, crushing, fermenting, storing and bottling capacities.

The expansions are prompted by increased demand for the company's brands and creating additional efficiencies with in-house and state-of-the-art technologies, it says.

"The need for more land, fermenters, tanks and bottling lines is a direct result of the success of our brands," says Jay Wright, president, Wine and Spirits Division, Constellation Brands. "We see a bright future for our California brands and are committed to ensuring that we can meet consumer demand.”

While the projects are in various stages of completion, most are expected to be completed by the end of 2013, the company says. In addition to hiring local contractors and labor to support construction, development, installation and maintenance for each project, Constellation will add 15-25 employees to accommodate the increased production and operations activities, it says.

"We are continuously looking to improve our operations and have done a great job over the last several years to optimize the efficiency of our many California vineyards, wineries and facilities," says Greg Fowler, senior vice president for operations, Constellation Brands. "Increasing capacity from grape to glass and investing in state-of-the-art technology is a wise investment that is not only good for Constellation Brands, but good for the local economies where we live and work."

Here is where Constellation is expanding or upgrading in the Central Valley:

• Constellation Brands is purchasing and/or leasing over 750 acres of additional land to be developed in the Lodi Delta area of San Joaquin County. Vineyards of cooler-climate varietals, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and some Cabernet Sauvignon will be planted to supply brands including Mark West, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, Robert Mondavi Private Selection and Clos du Bois.

• At its Turner Road Vintners winery in San Joaquin County, Constellation is adding 7,000 tons of crushing capacity and 1.5 million gallons of storage capacity.

• The TRV winery has also installed a new, in-house, state-of-the-art Tetra Pak bottling line. Constellation launched Vendange Tetra 500mL in 2004 as the first company in the U.S. to package wine domestically in the Tetra Pak carton.

Vendange continues to be the market leader for Tetra Pak cartons with 70 percent market share and has shown double-digit growth for seven consecutive years, the company says.

"We continue to see strong growth in this category and installing a new Tetra Pak line puts the company in a great position to support the growth of not only Vendange, but Black Box and Rex Goliath, which are now being offered in 500mL Tetra paks," says Mr. Fowler.

• Constellation's Mission Bell Winery in Madera County is adding a bag-in-box bottling line to increase capacity by 50 percent to meet growing demand for Black Box wine.

• Woodbridge Winery in San Joaquin County plans to convert one bottling line to accommodate growth of the 187mL PET bottle category for its Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi brand.

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=24282