A HAPPY BLEND
In Marlborough, a Swiss couple’s vineyard home allows them to work all hours and still live the good life
There’s a reason Swiss chalets are designed with a steep roof, says Therese Herzog, from her white weatherboard home in a Marlborough vineyard – it’s so that the snow can slip off. “It all makes sense. This is why I don’t understand when people immigrate to New Zealand and bring their country with them.”
Instead, Therese and her husband Hans – she small and vivacious, he tall and reserved – built a contemporary rendition of the traditional New Zealand villa, where white painted timber and cool verandahs meet tall and wide walls of glass.
Therese and Hans first visited New Zealand from Switzerland in the late 1980s, looking for a vineyard to complement their Swiss label. But it wasn’t until 1994 that they bought this small block of land at the edge of the Wairau River, excited by the potential to grow many different varieties in the arid sand, gravel and river stones. >
The plan was to commute between New Zealand and Switzerland, where a vineyard and Michelin starred restaurant called on much of their time. But when they built their small winery on their Marlborough property in 1998, they knew they had to choose one or the other, and settled on a life in New Zealand.
The next two decades were devoted to the land, the vines and Hans Herzog wines, along with an award-winning restaurant and sophisticated bistro on the same site. Meanwhile the couple established idyllic gardens at the heart of the estate, “anchoring” the buildings and drawing in the bird life Therese loves.
It was only then that they finally looked to building their home. “Typical Swiss,” says Therese, with a laugh. “Everything goes into the business.” However, it meant she knew exactly what she wanted when they commissioned Marlborough architect Jarrod Midgley to design their new home, which includes the original weatherboard cottage on the site. The cottage was retained and restored, and now serves as a master bedroom and en suite, with original rimu floorboards exposed. >
The older part of the home links via a wide gallery corridor to the open plan living area and kitchen, with Therese’s “eagle’s nest” office on a mezzanine above. In this part of the build, the weatherboard gives way to a “glasshouse”, allowing unimpeded views to vineyard rows blooming with wild flowers, hawks hunting vermin, and the silhouetted blue Richmond Range on the horizon.
Therese wanted the “quintessentially New Zealand” weatherboard inside as well, so one wall of the linking corridor echoes the home’s exterior, with its white painted layers of timber tempting to touch.
There’s a story behind every artwork and piece of antique furniture in this gallery, such as the sideboard found at a brocante in Burgundy then lovingly restored, and an artwork bought from a gypsy market then framed by another artist.
“Inside we have the things we love, which have accompanied us as part of our life,” Therese says. “Like photos on a table, they are memories.” The treasures carry on to the living area, where the first piece of furniture they restored – an armoire that was painstakingly stripped by Hans – sits near Dudley the dog, a copper sculpture by Wellington artist Max Patté.
It’s a full life, with Therese busy in the restaurant, bistro, cellar door and office, or hosting wine and food journalists, while Hans works in the vines during the day and the winery at night, particularly over vintage, when they pick most of their crop themselves. “We really are just farmers,” says Therese.
The demands of their business meant their house had to be close to the winery and vines, allowing easy transit and lunches together at home. But the space also had to be a sanctuary, Therese says. “When we come home, or I work at home, it has to be a place we feel comfortable and don’t mind working 14 hours a day, because you are surrounded by things you love.
“It comes together now, full circle. The vineyard, the wine, the winery and then the living part,” Therese says. “I think it’s a homage to the new country we have made our home in.”