Portavin turns 21

The concept for Portavin began back in the early 1980’s, when founder Mike Davies was studying winemaking at Roseworthy College. He wrote his thesis on the viability of a mobile bottling facility for the Australian wine industry and in 1989, turned words into reality, when his first mobile bottling facility in Australia hit the road. And so Portavin was born.

Since then, Portavin has grown to five static wine bottling facilities and two mobile lines. The business has increased its services over the years to include supply of packaging materials, laboratory services, dry goods supply, bulk wine storage, warehousing, distribution and export container packing.

With eight qualified winemakers in the business, Portavin has the experience and expertise to help you package and protect your most important asset, your wine.

We asked Mike Davies how it felt for Portavin to “come of age” this year…
“ Well by the age of 25, I realized the only way I was going to hold down a job would to be self employed! Since 1989 when I started Portavin, a lot has happened in the wine industry and we have been very lucky to have been able to grow and change with it.

At our 21st birthday celebrations held in Margaret River earlier this year, it became even more obvious to me that Portavin is all about people and how great it is to work with such a variety of friends – be they partners, staff, customers or suppliers. Many of our staff members have been with us for over 10 years, and many of our customers have used our services for the life of the business.

Our celebration was also a great opportunity to see some past employees and there was also a healthy representation from the “Old Guard” of the Margaret River wine industry

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of the Portavin story to date. Bring on the next chapter!”
 

…and PET turns 5

This year is also significant for PET, the popular lightweight bottles, which has now been available through Portavin Melbourne for 5 years. PET is an abbreviation for polyethylene terephthalate, a light weight plastic which is increasingly in demand from airlines seeking to improve their environmental credentials.

Amcor, the leaders in PET technology, approached Portavin in 2004 to trial to run of 187ml PET down the bottling line, which until then, had only handled glass. After certain modifications were made, Portavin developed a method of successfully filling PET bottles, which if not done correctly has the bottles behaving like ping pong balls.

The first commercial bottling into PET took place in 2005 – being wine from both Zonte’s Footsteps and Nepenthe, destined for Qantas.

At the same time, other airlines were looking at ways to save money and weight across their logistics chains. Given the 187ml PET bottle weighs five times less than glass – saving almost 3kg per case - packaging in PET is a “no brainer”.

Portavin is a logical company for an airline to deal with because of our independence and our strong contacts with the boutique wineries of Australia as well as the medium and large producers.

Five years on Portavin has successfully bottled 21 million PET bottles down its Melbourne bottling line for wineries around Australia. The list of customers for PET is growing – both in terms of wineries and airlines using the technology.

For wineries considering the move to PET, Portavin is the nation’s specialist and we can assist in transporting your wine to our Melbourne line. To find out more, contact Peter Walker peter.walker@portavin.com.au
 

Bulk Wine Storage now available

Have you got your bulk wine storage sorted for 2011? Portavin has 1.6 million litres of storage available in Perth, right next to our static bottling line. Out of tank, into bottle then off to market saves time, money and freight movements.

We have a range of temperature controlled tank sizes from 1.4 kilolitres to 90 kilolitres…and remember, we can provide full wine analysis on receival, ongoing regular sulphur analysis and quality checks are all included in the storage rates.

We can also help you manage the logistics – contact peter.walker@portavin.com.au
 

Stelvin Agents

In 2010, Portavin was pleased to be appointed exclusive agents for printed Stelvin caps in WA and Tasmania – and agents in all other states.

Speaking on the appointment, Gerlinde Watson, General Manager for Portavin WA said “Stelvin are the market leaders in terms of the finishes they can produce, decorating options and the quality of the product at the point of application. Stelvin, like Portavin, are here for the long run and we are delighted to be working with them in servicing the wine industry.”

For more information, contact Brendan.evans@portavin.com.au

Winning Winemakers

Portavin has long supported a range of WA wine shows through the provision of trophies. We are pleased to “give back” to the industry and announce the following recent winners of Portavin trophies.

Meet James Carter

James is Portavin Margaret River’s Client Services Scheduler and is one of our many long term staff members, having been with Portavin for 10 years now.

James grew up in Busselton, his family having farmed in the area for generations. He grew up learning how to operate just about any piece of machinery and today can drive anything from a bob cat to iron ore trucks and harbours a love of intricate machinery. . When James first left school, he drove road trains in the local area and the wheat belt. When the hours got longer and longer, James decided to look around at other opportunities. He started talking to Portavin founder, Mike Davies, who was starting a new mobile wine bottling line in Margaret River.

So in 2000, James started with Portavin, running two mobile lines on semi trailers which serviced all of Western Australia. From here, he commissioned and started a string of lines for Portavin including the static line in Margaret River, Perth, Adelaide and recently, New Zealand. At one stage, James was commissioning a new Portavin line every year.

James then moved into other aspects of the Portavin business before settling on his current role of Client Services Scheduler. This involved scheduling all aspects of jobs coming into Portavin Margaret River and the mobile line. James loves the variety and challenge of scheduling and finds that his machinery background and length of time with Portavin are appreciated by customers. “I think it gives stability to our business relationships.”

James lives on a 110 acre property not far from Portavin Margaret River. His favourite wine is Margaret River Chardonnay served with local scallops. It only takes him 3 minutes to get to work. “I love the peace and quiet of my place, which sits in the bush” he explains “It’s a nice contrast to the fast pace of work at Portavin.”