The expansion of Marlborough's wine industry over the past three decades has changed the face of the province, but even the earliest European settlers saw the potential of the free draining soils and moderate climate for cultivating grapes. In fact wine has been made commercially in Marlborough, almost constantly, since 1875.

Marlborough's vines and wines

Marlborough's first vineyard was established in the Fairhall/Brancott area by David Herd, farm manager of the 20,000 acre Meadowbank Farm. In 1873, Herd planted a vineyard on adjoining land at Auntsfield which he bought from the Reverend Charles Saxton (John Saxton's brother).¹  He grew muscatel grapes and made wine until his death in 1905. Annually, about 800 litres of excellent wine were produced from the Auntsfield vineyard, which continued wine production until 1931.² 

In about 1880, at Mt Pleasant, near Picton, Freeth's winery made about 1000 gallons of wine a year, a quarter of which was grape wine and the rest berry fruit and apple wine.³  The winery closed in the 1960s.⁴ 

The most significant commercial developments were yet to come. In 1973, a key report written by his company's viticulturalist (Wayne Thomas⁵, formerly of DSIR) persuaded Montana's Frank Yukich that Marlborough was a viable area for Montana to expand into. Unable to convince Montana's directors that Marlborough was a good proposition, Yukich initially paid the deposit for 4000 acres (1600 hectares) of flat land out of his own pocket. The purchase was later approved by the Montana Board when Wayne Thomas' report was corroborated by US experts. Thus an industry was born.⁶  "I sold them nine farms in 10 days and virtually overnight Montana doubled land values in the province from $250 to $500 an acre," said John Marris, a Pyne Gould Guinness land agent at the time, who later developed Wither Hills Wines with his son Brent.⁷

During the 1980s, hundreds of hectares of Marlborough's fine alluvial silts and stony gravels were planted in grapes, and Marlborough became known for its cool-climate wines: the flagship sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir and aromatics.⁸  However by the mid-1980s, New Zealand's wine industry was depressed and an oversupply of wine saw the Government paying $2500/acre⁹ for vines to be pulled out. The vine pull provided grape growers with an opportunity to replant with phyloxera-resistant vines and different varieties of grapes.¹⁰

In 1986, Cloudy Bay's sauvignon blanc became an iconic market leader for New Zealand sauvignon blanc in the U.K. and other international markets.

Ebulliant Irishman, Ernie Hunter paid $3000 a hectare for a 26 hectare block of land in the heart of Rapaura in 1979¹¹ - double the price of rural land at the time.  Hunter Wines won gold awards at the Sunday Times Vintage Festival U.K. in 1986, 87 and 88.¹²

Statistics indicate the importance of wine to the region. A 1998 Marlborough Economic Impact Study report showed that Marlborough's wine industry generated $130 million, of which $70 million was spent back in the region.¹³ The New Zealand Winegrowers' Statistical Annual report of 2021 revealed that Marlborough remains New Zealand's largest wine region with just over 70% of the national wine producing area and nearly 28,360 hectares of vineyards (compared to 5731 hectares in 2002.)¹⁴  In 2021, Marlborough's wine industry accounted for 18 per cent of the region's economy, with a gross output of almost $571 million.¹⁵ 

Such growth is not without problems. As vineyards increasingly criss-cross the Marlborough countryside issues have arisen, such as increasing land ownership by multi-national companies, the felling of shelterbelt trees which formerly provided protection from strong nor-wester winds on the Wairau Plain¹⁶, spray drift, and increased use of wind machines to keep vines frost-free.¹⁷

By 2008, the dramatic increase in the area under grapes had put a strain on the wine-making infrastructure, traditional grower-winery relationships were being re-negotiated, and the soaring grape prices of recent years seemed to have peaked.¹⁸  Whatever the problems, however, wine-making looks set to remain as a key industry in the region.

Footnote

Film maker, Graeme Cowley, has developed a vineyard at Auntsfield more than 130 years after David Herd first planted grapes there. In 2008, Cowley commissioned a  statue of Herd which stands at the entrance of the Blenheim Airport.¹⁹

2009  (updated 2022)

Story by: Joy Stephens

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