Australian wine packaging provider, Portavin Integrated Wine Services, will add McWilliam’s Wines’ Sydney-based cellar and bottling facilities to its portfolio under a new agreement between the two companies.

The agreement, which comes into effect on 4 October, is expected to benefit both companies by providing Portavin with a location into the Sydney market and simplifying the business model at McWilliam’s.

As part of the agreement, Portavin will manage the bottling and packaging of all McWilliam’s Wines products, and McWilliam’s staff with packaging and laboratory roles based at the Chullora site will be transferred to Portavin.

Portavin will also manage packaging for other wine producers at the Chullora facility.

McWilliam’s Wines CEO Rob Blackwell says the agreement will allow the winery to focus on its strengths.

“Outsourcing these operations to a specialist packaging operator like Portavin will allow the McWilliam’s Wines business to be clearly and entirely focussed on its core strengths, which is creating world class wines and being an industry leader in marketing and selling our portfolio,” Blackwell said.

Eddie Price, who extensive experience in wine industry management, has been announced general manager of the new Portavin New South Wales operation. He was recently acting general manager for Portavin Western Australia.