Sileni closes Hawke’s Bay winery after 30 years; brand keeps 36 export markets
Booster Wine Group will shut Sileni’s Hastings-area winery by end-2026, shifting winemaking to Awatere River (Marlborough) and Gravity (Tasman). CEO Craig Langley cites oversupply and weaker demand; the cellar door has been closed since July 2025.
Thirty years of Hawke’s Bay tanks are heading south.
B2B News and NZ Herald report that Booster will close the Sileni Estates winery near Hastings at the end of 2026. Production moves to Awatere River Winery in Marlborough and Gravity Winery in Tasman. The Sileni brand stays — Langley calls it a cornerstone across 36 export markets — but the physical site and an unconfirmed number of cellar jobs go. The cellar door has been quiet since July 2025.
The domestic backdrop is thin: New Zealand per-capita wine sales sit near 7.5 litres, a 30-year low. Hawke’s Bay holds about 10% of national vine area against Marlborough’s roughly 73%. In a commodity fight dominated by sauvignon scale, a diverse Hawke’s Bay house feels the wrong end of the lever.
Mini-concept: brand survival and regional production are separable. A label can keep shelves while tanks migrate to where scale and cost work. The region loses payroll, contractors and the tourism orbit around a cellar door.
Remember: Sileni Hawke’s Bay winery closes end-2026; brand stays in 36 markets; NZ per-capita ~7.5 L; HB ~10% vine area vs Marlborough ~73%.
Source: NZ Herald