Marlborough wine region comes through earthquake well

Tuesday 20th August 2013

Vineyards in Marlborough have lost only a small quantity of wine as a result of Friday's magnitude 6.6 earthquake and are operating as normal.

NZ Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan visited the region on Monday and found few issues. The amount of wine lost was inconsequential, he said.

"There's been a few tanks damaged but it's the sort of thing we would expect in an earthquake of that size," he said. "The tanks are bolted to the slabs with earthquake bolts and the bolts did what they were designed to do. They stretched, and in some cases broke, but that's what they are designed to do - they kept the tanks upright".

There are only a small number of wineries in the Awatere Valley nearest to the quake's epicentre and in the Wairau Valley most producers reported no impact other than a good shake.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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