Poulter Family Wines completes acquisition of Constellation Brands assets
Wednesday, 15 July 2026
Local wine firm Poulter Family Wines is set to double in size after buying eight prestigious wine brands and assets from US wine giant Constellation Brands.
The Auckland and Hawke’s Bay wine group has completed its acquisition of Selaks, returning the West Auckland-founded brand to New Zealand ownership. It also bought Selaks’ Hawke’s Bay vineyards and winery, and the brands Little Harvest, The People’s Wine, Young & Co, State of Light, Wild Grace, Superstate and Tipping Point.
Poulter now manages 900 hectares of owned and leased vineyards across Hawke’s Bay and Martinborough.
“It means that we can bring almost all of our wine making in-house, managed by our chief winemaker, which we're really excited about,” Sam Poulter, head of manufacturing and sales at Poulter Group, told The Post.
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The price Poulter paid is undisclosed, but thought to be multiple millions.
The family wine company’s distribution and bottling operation is in Auckland, where it bottles 9,000-12,000 bottles per hour - about 16 million bottles a year, equivalent to 70,000 litres a day. It now has the capacity to double this output following the acquisition - and will do so, according to its pipeline plan for expansion.
“With the acquisition of the brands, it further strengthens some of our relationships with our retail customers here in New Zealand, and there are some opportunities with export customers as well.”
Poulter’s main markets are Europe and the UK, and Poulter said there were plans to grow business in smaller emerging markets, such as China and Korea.
“There's large growth being made in those countries, so we're excited to be dipping into those.”
Before the transaction, Poulter was a medium-sized business, most known as the producer of Sacred Hill and Martinborough brand Tora Bay.
It now owns and operates just under 20 wine brands as part of its portfolio, and employs about 100 employees in total.
“This is a big step up,” he said.
“The key growth for us is the winery. We currently have a 3000-tonne winery, and the winery we've purchased is 10,000 tonnes.
“We're excited about the scale that this brings to our company.”
Poulter purchased wine brand Sacred Hill almost five years ago, and the company is open to further acquisitions as it seeks to grow its business and share of the New Zealand wine industry.
“We've been in the industry a long time - in our current business over 15 years, but involved in the industry for over 30 years. It's an industry we love and already very committed to, so this acquisition was a logical step forward for us.
While the industry had challenges, Poulter said that made it a good time to invest in infrastructure and brands to be prepared for any uptick.
“There's lots of opportunity out there, and getting through this cycle, our business will be a lot stronger than it was when it went into it.”
Constellation Brands, which first entered New Zealand in 2003 when it purchased BRL Hardy and then Selaks, continues to offload its lower-margin, mass-market wine brands as part of its efforts to focus on premium end of the drinks market.