Bishell family plants new roots

In Kiwi Farmers’ Guide to Life, journalist Tim Fulton tells the stories of New Zealand farmers and their families, tracing the ancestral journeys that brought them to their particular piece of rural Kiwi paradise.

They turned down Montana Wines back in the day, but it turned out fine for the grapegrowing Bishells of Marlborough.

While they aren’t the biggest wine-makers around, they stand out for their insistence on winemaking and independent retailing from entirely within a family fold. Bishells have farmed that way for five generations and the current generation is determined to keep it like that, come what may.

Caythorpe Family Estate was launched in 2015 as a ‘superpremium, 100 per cent estategrown wine brand’, producing sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, pinot noir and rose´ .

About 60 per cent of Caythorpe land is now devoted to grape-growing, with about a third of the remainder in mixed cropping, specialty hay or livestock and a small amount in cherries.

With the assistance of winemaker Jeremy McKenzie, Caythorpe wines are sold around the country and exported to various markets in North America, UK, the EU and Asia.

Back in the early ’70s, few suspected the property was prime wine-making country, but that soon became clear.

In 1972, the family was approached in secrecy by businessmen visiting from Auckland looking to buy Caythorpe. They declined the offer and the businessmen ended up buying a neighbouring property.

These property investors were the Yukich brothers (owners of Montana Wines, now Brancott Estate) and the neighbouring property became the very first large-scale vineyard established in Marlborough.

The brutal economic climate of the 1980s proved the catalyst for diversification into horticulture.

With no previous experience in horticulture, they somehow convinced their bank to fund the planting of cherries in 1985, followed by the first vineyards of sauvignon blanc and pinot noir in 1987.

The vines came into production at the same time as the emergence of the Marlborough sauvignon blanc wine.

From the mid-’90s the family decided the future of the farm lay in viticulture. Over the next 10 years Caythorpe’s vineyard grew to 100ha, with grapes sold on contract to several prominent wineries.

One of the latest generation of family farmers, Simon, says the result was testament to his parents’ [Murray and Diana] untold hours of hard work and dedication, along with a little good fortune as a result of their willingness to innovate.

By 2006, Simon and brother Scott had returned to Caythorpe and were keen to be part of the next chapter in the family business.

Continuing the family legacy, in 2008 Simon won New Zealand Young Viticulturist of the Year. Today’s Caythorpe custodians remain steeped in the family culture and expect the addition of a wine brand to the business will ensure another chapter in the farm’s rich farming history, providing a platform for a sixth generation to come.

Kiwi Farmers Guide to Life: Rural Tales from the Heartland by Tim Fulton, published by Bateman Books, RRP$39.99.