Keeping it in the family
Asegment of the wine industry rivals the mafia for the emphasis it places on keeping things in the family. Family ownership is held up by many wineries to be one of their most valuable assets. You see it featured in brand names, eg Allan Scott Family Winemakers. It’s a central idea behind the Family of Twelve, a marketing collective whose members are all family-owned.
All over the world family ownership has been shown to work well for wine. It’s as true for small, elite domains as for sprawling behemoths. The biggest winery in the US is family-owned E & J Gallo.
There are many reasons for this. A big one is that families are capable of taking a much longer view than corporates, with their obsession for quarterly returns and their short stay executives. Families will ride bumps like lousy vintages by eating pasta for a year. That kind of strategy isn’t likely to get much traction in a boardroom.
Wine is also a product that’s strongly tied to stories of people and place. It’s a relationship business. We all enjoy a personal chat about wine with the weatherbeaten vigneron whose name is on the bottle. For family-owned wineries, this comes easily and naturally. It is not just in their DNA to do so, it almost is their DNA they’re discussing. Several WINE producers have said to me they feel as if their wines are their children.
Do family-owned wineries make better wine than their corporate cousins? Not necessarily, but as a generalisation I’d say yes. To make great wine, you must see it as an art rather than solely as a business, something that is difficult for most corporates.
It’s not all sunlit uplands for the family-ownership model. Intergenerational succession has its pitfalls. In places like Burgundy, stories of ‘‘les heritiers’’ taking over the family domain and messing things up are not unusual.
A number of New Zealand family-owned wineries are currently facing succession challenges. The founding fathers and mothers – the pioneers of 30 years ago – are ready to pass the baton.
We’ve seen generation-next start assuming active roles at several estates. At others, it has been a different story. A while ago, a Martinborough winemaker sat his kids down and asked them if they wanted to take over the winery. The response was emphatic: ‘‘Hell no – we’ve seen how hard you and mum work and we want nothing to do with it.’’
Misha’s Vineyard Dress Circle Pinot Gris 2016 $27.95
Family-owned Misha’s Vineyard is proud of its pinot gris, and for good reason.
This new release is delightful – dry, with flavours akin to pear and a dash of cucumber, beautifully weighted and balanced.
Burn Cottage Pinot Noir 2015 $65
Bio-dynamically farmed Burn Cottage’s new pinot is a treat. It crosses the palate in long, even lines, with blood orange, incense and sour cherry notes unfolding gradually. It charms with texture as much as flavour.