Lending a guiding hand among vines

With a passion for cycling, travelling and Marlborough, retired grape grower Robert Kennedy jumped at the opportunity to do some tour guiding in his own backyard.

From dairy farming to growing pip fruit, vegetables and grapes, Robert has made a living from the land his entire life and seen many changes sweep the region.

Growing up on the family dairy farm in the lower Wairau near, the Grovetown Lagoon, Robert was the third generation of Kennedys to farm the land.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s he converted the property and planted an extensive fruit orchard with apples and kiwifruit and a large market garden growing crops such as squash, garlic, onions, brassicas, and greens.

Long-time Marlborough residents may remember KG’s Fruit and Vegetable shop located on State Highway 1 in Grovetown – a joint venture built by the Kennedy and Giles families.

But as the popularity of Granny Smith then Red Delicious apples waned in the mid-1990s, Robert started converting some of the 32-hectare property into vineyards.

At the time, people thought he and his wife Lynne were crazy to plant grapes in Grovetown, but that only spurred them on, Robert says.

‘‘We were told by everyone that grapes wouldn’t grow on our side of the railway lines. So it became a bit of a challenge to prove that we could.’’

Back then, grape growing was vastly different to today. Everything was labour intensive, and developing vineyards took a long time, as specialised viticulture equipment either hadn’t been invented or was not readily available in New Zealand.

However, the camaraderie and collaboration within the industry was amazing, he says.

‘‘Even though everyone thought we were taking a risk, we had great support and learned a lot from other growers around the region. It was totally different to fruit and crop growers.’’

He credits that affinity among growers to the region’s wine pioneers, who worked hard to develop international markets for Marlborough wine in the 1970s and 1980s.

‘‘Unlike fruit and vegetables, which were largely for the domestic market, wine has always been about export, so we weren’t competing against anyone else.’’

Robert has travelled extensively overseas and loves meeting people from different parts of the world – many of whom have never heard of New Zealand but are big fans of Marlborough wine.

Grape growing is hard work and often quite solitary, so when Robert was approached by Karen Walshe, owner of tour company Explore Marlborough, with the opportunity to do some wine cycle tour guiding, he jumped at the chance to mix and mingle with others.

Tour guiding during late summer, ‘‘while waiting for the grapes to ripen’’, was an ideal way to get out and about and meet other people, especially after handing over the management of the family vineyard to two of his three children four years ago, he says.

‘‘Tour guiding works for me because it’s flexible. I can pick and choose the days that suit, and I’m back home by midafternoon, with plenty of time for a bike ride or a round of golf.’’

❚ This article first appeared in Winepress Magazine and is reprinted with permission.

With a passion for cycling, travelling and Marlborough, retired grape grower Robert Kennedy jumped at the opportunity to do some tour guiding in his own backyard.