Listed grapegrower Oyster Bay Vineyards has seen the price of its grapes drop by a fifth in its latest deal with sole customer Delegat’s as the oversupply issue continues to push prices down around the country.

The Marlborough grape grower confirmed today that it had completed negotiations with Delegat’s Wine Estate, which had achieved an average price of $1469 per tonne.

That figure was down 20.3% on the previous year, when an average of $1843 a tonne was paid.

Delegat’s profit, revenue and dividend payments are all on the rise, but the wine company’s share price stubbornly refuses to budge very far.

Currently sitting at the $2.50 level, the company’s share price has not changed all that much since reaching that mark soon after it listed in 2006, despite continued growth.

Bulldozer-cum-wine entrepreneur and Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards minority shareholder Peter Yealands says he is satisfied with the price it is selling its grapes to majority shareholder Delegats, but still has procedural issues with NZX’s oversight.

Mr Yealands says he is happy with the $1843 per tonne average, a price he describes as “fair”.

Oyster Bay Marlborough Vineyards continues to assure its investors that its controversial grape price negotiations with majority owner Delegat’s Wine Estate are completely above board.
 
The grower of one of New Zealand’s most well known sauvignon blancs has said that its total production for the year was 6,236 tonnes, as verified by independent directors on behalf of the NZX.
 

Peter Yealands’ astonishing new winery may be selling wine as fast as he can make it, but underneath all the good news, persistent rumours he is facing growing debt problems continue to bubble to the surface.

Yealands Estates sits on 1000ha of hilly Awatere Valley land Mr Yealands carved into a giant terrace vineyard using his own equipment.

The NBR Rich Lister operates from the classic Kiwi entrepreneurial archetype, with a long history of DIY innovation across industries as varied as mussel farming, earth moving and coal mining.