Wine Heritage Trail

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1. Freeth Estate
2. Auntsfield Estate
3. Brancott Estate/Montana
4. Te Whare Ra
5. Wairau River Wines
6. Hunter’s Wines
7. Allan Scott Wines
8. Cloudy Bay
9. No 1 Family Estate
10. Vavasour Wines
11. Marlborough Museum - Wine Exhibition

In 1873 David Herd planted a small vineyard of Brown Muscat at Aunstfield in Fairhall, an anomaly in a region known for its cropping. One hundred years later, in October 1973, Montana started planting vineyards in Marlborough, kick-starting what would become the province’s dominant industry, responsible for around 80% of New Zealand’s wine exports, and a global reputation for Sauvignon Blanc.

More information:  Wine Marlborough 

Internationally renowned winemaker Kevin Judd led the development of Cloudy Bay’s wines from their early days for 25 years, before creating his own wine label Graywacke in 2009.

When he arrived in Marlborough to oversee the first stage of development of Cloudy Bay’s winery in 1986, there were only four other wineries in Marlborough - Montana, Hunter’s, Te Whare Ra and Cellier Le Brun.

Since then, Cloudy Bay has become one of Marlborough’s most iconic wine labels and is often credited with putting New Zealand wine and Marlborough sauvignon blanc on the world map.

Kevin has earned many winemaking accolades during his 40-odd years of winemaking and weathered many of the industry’s ups and downs, including the phylloxera outbreak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the wine glut coupled with the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, severe earthquakes which damaged wineries and vineyards in 2013 and 2016, and disruption caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in 2020.

Through its various challenges, the industry has often managed to turn those hurdles to its advantage and come out stronger and more resilient in the long term, he says.

“Winemaking has evolved continuously over the past 40 years, it’s more efficient, we have new technology and have reached wine consumers in countries all over the world. “Noone knows what the future will hold, but one thing’s for sure, there will always be a demand for good quality wine.”