Mills Reef Winery has announced that its winery’s operations are to be relocated from their current Bethlehem site in Tauranga, to the Leveret Estate, formerly Morton Estate, sited on State Highway 2 about five kilometres south of Katikati.
“We explored many site options, but the opportunity to team up with Leveret and create a Bay Of Plenty ‘wine destination hub’ certainly stood out as the preferred option,” says Mills Reef Director, Tim Preston.
The Mills Reef brand will continue to source its grapes from the Hawke’s Bay region, with the winemaking from 2020 season onward being completed at the Katikati site.
“We have a lot of loyal followers here in Tauranga, so it’s great to be able to stay in the Bay Of Plenty,” says Preston. “The move will also give us access to some new vineyards and we look forward to exploring those options.”
The current Mills Reef winery restaurant will remain open in Bethlehem until Saturday December 14th and the tasting room until Sunday December 22nd. Thereafter, the tasting room will be moved to the new Katikati site.
The present Bethlehem site is already in the initial stages of redevelopment into a lifestyle retirement village. The landmark art-deco winery building will be retained and extended to eventually become a communal centre for the village.
“It’s great that the winery’s history on this site is being preserved through retention of the building, whilst naming of the village and its streets also pays homage to that history,” says Preston.
