Keeping a distinct identity
Whitehaven began in 1994 and established a small winemaking business, situated in the middle of town.
On the outskirts of Renwick, the Whitehaven winery hides away down a rough asphalt road. Rows of dormant grapevines line the fields around the ominous green and grey buildings.
Entering a converted corrugated iron shed, finding my way by the handed-painted "office" sign, I am met by a well-dressed woman, one of the few not wandering around in gumboots.
Sue White, the managing director and owner of the winery, greets me with a friendly smile and leads me into the boardroom.
She is incredibly easy-going to talk to. She leans back casually in the boardroom chair and jokes about her daughter Samantha's desire to escape her Christchurch boarding school for university elsewhere.
Surrounded by accolades for the company's success, Sue is clearly proud of the company that has grown remarkably over the last 10 years to produce an internationally acclaimed sauvignon blanc.
In an April poll by United States magazine Wine and Spirits, Whitehaven's sauvignon blanc was named the third most popular wine by the glass in the American restaurants, with two Napa Valley wines leading the top spots.
Its special black label sauvignon blanc, named Greg, after Sue's late husband, will be available on Air New Zealand's business class from August.
Whitehaven began in 1994 and established a small winemaking business, situated in the middle of town.
In 2001, it expanded to its current location on Pauls Rd, now with a production capacity of 5000 tonnes.
Sue and Greg met at the Bank of New Zealand in Wellington. They moved to Auckland in 1988, where Greg took a job with a merchant bank.
In 1990, Sue says they sailed around the Pacific for a couple of years before settling in Marlborough, despite having no idea that winemaking was their future.
"We had grown up in Wellington so we knew Marlborough and had friends here. To avoid hurricane weather, we would often sail around the Sounds – it was a nice place with good weather.
"Sailing around really put a different outlook on things and what we wanted to do in life."
In 1995, the Whites leased a small winery in town where Dodson's is today. Leasing the business from Old Grove Mill, Sue says they pulled money together to do what they could and get the business under way.
"We sold up our home, our boat and lived in a small cottage in Renwick. It was tough for the first few years but that's to be expected."
Sue laughs as she says "you never describe the first vintage as bad but rather it was `very very wet'," which meant they made only arRiesling that year.
Wet or otherwise, Whitehaven still won gold for its riesling.
With a small core staff of about 12 workers, Sue says the friendly, family-oriented atmosphere that Whitehaven holds is the key to its success.
"This is still a very family-oriented company.
"We often have children of staff here and my own family around. In the early years, my brother would come down around his day job and helped out during one vintage.
"The family feel is why people like being here. It's not your normal nine to five job but the job gets done."
Ad Feedback Sue says this family-oriented attitude attracted the investment of E & J Gallo, an American distribution company.
The relationship worked so well that the company brought a 25 per cent share in Whitehaven.
Whitehaven is one of the few wineries to have both the grapes and winery on the same site.
Sue says they have also contract growers collecting grapes from the Awatere and Wairau Valleys.