Remarkables Wines was fined $16,300 by Judge Michael Turner.
Between May 1 and 6, 2011, the company failed to comply with the Act by not informing regional archaeologist Andrew Winter it was beginning works and did not inform the New Zealand Historic Places Trust when it found artefacts (a hammer and glass bottles).
The court was told the company had failed to comply with three conditions of an authority granted to it on January 25, 2011.
These were in relation to earthworks on land near the historic 1860s Gibbston Hotel site on Coal Pit Rd, Gibbston.
The hotel burned down in 1912.
The authority contained 11 conditions, which included ensuring Remarkables Wines director Richard Hugh Guthrey was advised of the start date of work; any earthworks be monitored by him; and any archaeological evidence be investigated, recorded and analysed.
Mr Guthrey, of Auckland, appeared on behalf of his company on Monday and apologised to the court.
"I should have immediately stopped work and I didn't and I regret that."
He said "nothing of historic value" was damaged or disturbed.
Judge Turner said archaeology was a painstaking process and what was of little value to him was 'gold" to an archaeologist.
The company was fined $16,300, and ordered to pay court costs of $132.89.
The property is a recorded archaeological site under the New Zealand Archaeological Association site recording scheme. The remains of the hotel, two stone buildings and two stone walls, are on an adjoining title.
In 2006, an archaeological assessment of the site was completed and identified the possibility of long-drop latrines and rubbish pits of archaeological significance.
In late 2010, the Historic Places Trust received an application from Remarkable Wines Ltd for an authority to enable damage or modification of archaeology at the property, required for it to open a wine-tasting facility.
This was granted in January 2011.
The cover letter advised him to read the conditions carefully and stated the complex was significant to the history of the Otago Goldfields.
On May 5, 2011, a trust representative paid visit to the site and discovered earthworks were under way and Mr Guthrey was working at the site.
The regional archaeologist noted items appearing to be 19th-century glass, ceramics, pottery and a blacksmith's hammer among the spoil from the work.
