Wine pioneer blindsided with honour

In the beginning: Marlborough grapegrower Phil Rose was "surprised, but honoured'' to receive a lifetime achievement award at a special dinner during the Marlborough Wine Weekend. He and his wife, Chris, started Wairau River Wines in 1978

A stalwart of the Marlborough wine industry was acknowledged with a lifetime achievement award at an industry dinner on Saturday.

The award was bestowed on an unsuspecting Phil Rose, of Wairau River Wines, at a special dinner at Timara Lodge as part of the Marlborough Wine Weekend.

"I think everyone knew but me. It was a well-kept secret," he said yesterday, still humbled by the accolade.

"It was completely out of the blue. I had a high-school reunion in Christchurch which I had to cut short, but I didn't know why."

"I was duped, I suppose."

Mr Rose and his wife, Chris, planted their first vines in Rapaura in 1978, and became a contract grower for Montana at a time the company was the only other grapegrower in Marlborough. They had to get permission from the council of the day to change the use of their land from farmland to vineyards, and they came up against stiff opposition.

"We picked up 56 objections, from moral grounds to forestry interests. It became an interesting couple of years," he said.

The Rose family owned farmland in Rapaura that was used to grow lucerne and they supplied their crop to the Lucerne Meal Company factory on Old Renwick Rd.

The factory went out of business about 1973 because of high oil prices, so the family started to look for something else to grow, he said.

The stony and well-draining soil in Rapaura was ideal for growing grapes, he said.

The expansion of the wine industry in the early 2000s was "probably too much, too fast", creating an imbalance between supply and demand.

"That's the growing pain in any agricultural industry. There's a certain amount of boom and bust before you reach equilibrium."

Family had always been a strong point of the business and most of his children and their partners were involved in running it, he said.

"It's one of our strengths."

Wine Marlborough chairman Dominic Pecchenino said Mr Rose was one of the "pioneers of the industry".

It was "mind-boggling" that he had to fight and lobby to have the first grapes planted in the region, he said.

"He has been a great ambassador for the province and done the hard yards promoting Marlborough wines. For him, it's Marlborough first then everything else second."

Only two other people have received the lifetime achievement award – Gerry Gregg, of Pernod Ricard, in 2007 followed posthumously by Ross Lawson in 2009.

The recipients are chosen by a committee and based on a set of criteria and nominations.

"It's great to honour these guys. They have done the hard work and I hope they don't think their hard work has been forgotten," Mr Pecchenino said.