With close to 900 hectares of vineyard development, Leefield was an opportunity for me to grow our vineyard footprint to meet the global demand for our brands. WilkesRM has assisted throughout and made the entire resource consent process straightforward.
When acclaimed winemaker and founder of Marisco Vineyards Brent Marris bought Leefield Station to develop into vineyards to meet growing demand for his award-winning wines, he approached WilkesRM.
Leefield Station is a 2000 hectare property located in the Waihopai Valley in Marlborough, which is renown for producing some of the best sauvignon blanc in the world.
WilkesRM managed all aspects of the resource consent process including obtaining the water, irrigation, river intake, frost fan, river management and infrastructure permits required to convert the land into a producing vineyard. All work was completed on time and within budget. The first 100 hectares of vineyards were planted in Spring 2013 and will be producing grapes by 2015. The remainder of the vineyard developments will continue to roll out over the next four years.