Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
From the Wairau Sheds to Cloudy Bay
Ivan Sutherland was born connected to land and water.
He grew up in a farming family near the Wairau rowing sheds, just a few strokes from Cloudy Bay, a name he would later help make world-famous.
Ivan studied agriculture, valuation, and farm management at Lincoln University, before joining the New Zealand rowing eight, which won bronze in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
In 1979 he and wife Margaret bought 20ha of land (at $3200 a hectare) from Bill Walsh on Dog Point Road, in partnership with Ivan’s cousin Robin Sutherland and Robin’s wife Bernice, who they later bought out.
Müller Thurgau was planted the first year, followed by riesling and mendoza chardonnay.
“We have still got some mendoza on its own roots for nostalgic reasons,” Ivan says.
He retired from rowing when the Moscow Olympics was boycotted in
1980, and then set about valuing much of Marlborough for the Valuation Department, before starting a private valuation and farm management consultancy.
When Lex Hayward joined him in partnership, taking on most of the valuation work, Ivan could concentrate on clients associated with the emerging wine industry.
In 1985, David Hohnen from Margaret River’s Cape Mentelle, asked Ivan to do some consultancy work on land values and vineyard development costs, having just bought a large block of land off Corbans on Jacksons Rd.
He’d come after tasting Marlborough sauvignon blanc with some New Zealand producers at his West Australian winery. Under the prevailing overseas
investment rules, David needed New Zealand investors in the deal, so Ivan and Margaret, with banker Chris Simmonds, bought about 8ha, as did Maree and David Leonard, Kevin and Kimberley Judd, and Allan and Cathy Scott, while Cloudy Bay Vineyards retained 30ha.
Grapes were sourced from Corbans for the first few vintages, but Ivan oversaw viticultural expansion after becoming the company viticulturist in 1986.
“David made it attractive for me,” he says.
Lex took over the valuation practice. Along with developing Cloudy Bay’s land holding, another early task was finding contract growers.
Ivan and Margaret jumped in, along with the Judds, Leonards, Scotts, John and Pip Hoare, David and Val Rose, Phillip and Ngaire Neal, and Mike and Robyn Tiller.
Sauvignon blanc was obviously the focus, but also included existing plantings of chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, the latter proving hard to ripen.
The early to mid-80s brought challenging times. A glut of lower-quality wine led to the Labour Government paying growers to pull out vines in
1985. While Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay benefited most, through their greater vineyard area at the time, it was a gamechanger for Marlborough.
People began to plant sauvignon blanc, in particular.