Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Awatere Valley’s lush wine transformation
Growing up on the edge of Marlborough’s east coast, where the Awatere River meets the Pacific Ocean, Stu Marfell saw tinder dry summers burn the landscape brown.
Nearly four decades on, Foley Wine’s chief Marlborough winemaker is surrounded by lush green vines, in a valley transformed by wine. “I guess I have been lucky to grow up in this history. It’s been a massive shift and I have been right in the thick of it.” Marfell was the fifth generation on his family’s sheep and beef farm, where lambing was done early, before north-westerly winds put paid to summer pasture. When neighbouring farmers Pete and Anna Vavasour put in irrigation from the Awatere River in the 1980s, then took an audacious punt in planting a vineyard, the farming community was “fascinated”.
His mother joined a team of farming wives who “jumped” at the chance to help out with the vineyards, Marfell says, recalling tough times in farming and the boon of an extra income.
He was 6 years old at the time, and by the age of 9 was tagging along with his brother, to pick (and eat) grapes at harvest. He’s not sure whether that was help or hindrance, but he was certainly intrigued by the new land use. “For me it was so interesting – this combination of farming and science and making this quite exotic product … From that first harvest on, I was pretty hooked.”
Summer work was split between the Marfell farm and the Vavasour vineyard until he was 15, when the latter took all his time. He loves that some of the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay he makes today are from the vines he helped plant in the mid-1990s. “I have been learning from day one – from sticking a vine in the ground and following it through to making a wine. It’s been a really amazing opportunity.”
After boarding school in Nelson, Marfell went to Lincoln University for a Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology, while “sneakily” working in the Vavasour vineyard and winery throughout his studies. He planned to follow graduation with a few years of overseas vintages, but dropped in at Vavasour on his way home from final exams to catch up with winemaker Glenn Thomas. “He said ‘the assistant winemaker is moving on, are you interested?’”
So in 2003, Marfell traded in his OE for an unmissable opportunity 10km down the road from his childhood home, and by 2007 he was head winemaker at Vavasour. Twenty years on, he is at the helm of Grove Mill and Vavasour Wines, chief judge of the Marlborough Wine Show, Sponsored by QuayConnect, and living happily at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, on land he and his wife carved off the family farm before it was sold.
Marfell, who was awarded Winemaker of the Show at the New Zealand International Wine Show in 2018 and 2022, says his role has evolved a lot, with the ownership change from New Zealand Wine Fund to Foley Wines in 2006, and then the acquisition of other labels, including Te Kairanga, Martinborough Vineyards, and Mt Difficulty. “I have had about 10 different jobs.”
Amid that work, judging has played a key role in his development, starting as a way to broaden his exposure. “For a while we were the only winery in the Awatere Valley and a bit isolated … wine judging was a way of meeting a few more people, networking with other winemakers, and tasting a wide range of wines.”
Mentors such as Raymond Chan, Michael Brajkovich and others made a huge difference to new judges coming in, and the more Marfell learned, the more he wanted to know. Judging grew his ability to critically analyse wines, both in the competition panel and back at the winery: “You can pull out that analytical side of how you assess wines. It really helps.”
He’s chief judge of the Marlborough Show this year, having taken over from Ben Glover, and is excited by the opportunity to help other new judges come through, “passing on knowledge I have gained from other people”.
Wine competitions are also an important way to improve a region’s wines, he says. “That’s why I think the Marlborough show is so important.” There’s a certain amount of recognition and pride in winning an award, and the ”direct feedback” can drive improvements, “and hopefully the Marlborough show does that for the region’s wine,” he says. “Over time wineries have grown Marlborough’s reputation for making exceptional wines, so we need to inspire a new generation of winemakers to keep that momentum and hold our standards high.”