PAST EVENTS THAT HAVE SHAPED US
Key Milestones
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” -Soren Kierkegaard
John Rose arrives from England as a new migrant to New Zealand in 1858 and sets up his original farm in Rapaura, Spring Creek.
John Rose marries Ellen Ford in 1866 at the home of Issac Gifford, Giffords Rd. Ironically the same area where Phil & Chris Rose build their home.
John Rose buys Lot 17, Sec 48 on East Side of Grove Road for 200 Pounds. By 1905 he owned 153ha – named it Kegworth after the farm in UK where he was born and raised. John had two sons, John and Ernest.
In 1912 John (junior) buys 72ha in Rapaura (The Poplars) – he paid 100 pounds per acre – a reasonable price in those days.
John (junior) dies leaving his sons Arthur and Doug (Phil's father) tasked with running the family farm. Ultimately the farm was able to
carry on producing fine wheat, pea & barley crops.
The original block became the centre of a framing operation that spanned three other properties, one in Wratts Rd, another in Giffords Rd, and the third on Murrays Rd near Spring Creek.
Phil & Chris Rose marry in London 1972 and return to NZ to work in Rose Combines farming business with his three brothers.
Phil & Chris Rose develop Kesteven Farm on Giffords Road. Predominantly fodder crop Lucerne. The green leaf lucerne was harvested and fine chopped – taken to the Lucerne Meal Factory in Old Renwick Rd, where it was dehydrated, pelletised and exported to Japan for stock feed for Kobe beef.
Phil and Chris start a young family, Pip being born in 1973, followed by Anna, Hamish, Sam and Caroline.
Sauvignon Blanc is produced ...
A Sauvignon Blanc clone sourced from the government’s Te Kauwahata Viticultural Research Station Ruakura looked promising.
A lab sample made in the 1970s had exciting aromas and flavours, but the vines were seriously infected with leaf roll virus.
Ross Spence then tracked down a trial plant on Corbans’ Kumeu vineyard, days before the vineyard was ripped out. Together with his brother Bill they made a small run of 400 wine bottles in their tin shed winery. It was 1974 and they had just created New Zealand’s first Sauvignon Blanc.
Due to the oil shock in the mid ‘70’s, Phil and Chris Rose look to move away from growing lucerne. Settling upon wine growing as an ideal solution for their soil types along the banks of the Wairau River, they were immediately stymied by Marlborough Country Council regulations whose District Scheme Plan prohibited any grape growing north of Old Renwick Road.
An application to the council for permission to plant 60 acres in three lots of 20 acres, attracted 56 objections with few supporters.
The Council declined, and an immediate appeal was launched by Phil and Chris.
The objections ranged from moral issues to the local
forestry interests losing the right to use 245T sprays for desiccation prior to
planting, local farmers, noise and spray over
an 18 month process.
The Roses finally win their long and protracted legal battle as the Marlborough County Council overturn the decision of their own planning committee and grape growing was made a ‘predominant use’ everywhere south of the Wairau River.
The Rose family plants 20 acres of Muller Thurgau vines for Montana Wines, followed by 20 acres of Palamino and in third year another 20 acres of Muller Thurgau. Everything was planted at 3m wide rows and 1.6m between vines. The original vineyard is now called Home Block.
In 1985 troubles were brewing for the New Zealand wine industry overall.
Marlborough wasn’t immune to those troubles and when it was decided that a glut of wine was threatening everyone, the Government agreed in 1986 to fund a vine pull.
The Roses re-planted with varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
Another significant event in the development of Marlborough’s wine industry was the discovery of Phylloxera in the region. This in turn means more replanting had to occur.
Many believe without these two major events, Marlborough could still be growing bulk varieties like Muller Thurgau and Chenin Blanc.
Wairau River Wines is formed with the establishment of the Vintech facility at the top end of Rapaura Road. It is from here that they produce their first vintage of 2,000 cases of Sauvignon Blanc and win the prestigious Air New Zealand Wine Awards Sauvignon Blanc trophy.
Almost all of the 1991 vintage is exported to the UK through the first Wairau River Exporter, Reid Wines.
The iconic mudbrick building is built on Rapaura Road and becomes the home of the Wairau River Restaurant and Cellar door, now known as Number 11 at Wairau River.
Phil & Chris Rose buy 40 hectares of land on Rapaura Road and plant 1km Plane Tree lined driveway.
This would become the site of the winery.
Screwcap revolution - New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative was established in early 2001. The Rose Family started sealing their wines with screwcaps from 2002 onwards.
The next generation of the Rose Family started joining the winery business
Parky, now CEO, then “Pip’s husband” and Pip, return to Marlborough. Pip takes over running the restaurant and cellar door from
Chris. Parky starts learning the ropes of sales and marketing from Phil.
After selling their share of Rapaura Vintners, the Roses build a winery on the Rapaura Road vineyard. A state-of-the-art facility
capable of crushing and processing up to 2,000 ton of grapes and a bottling hall. They also move the offices from the Restaurant building to here.
Sam Rose returns from Australia, and begins as a winemaker, learning under John Belsham.
Hamish Rose moves from a blended role working in the vineyards and fishing his own Paua (Abalone) quota, to a full-time role as
Viticulturalist and Vineyard manager.
Growing demand for land results in purchase of the Longbend land on Dillons Point Rd. Originally a chicken farm it was converted to a high yielding Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. Riparian plantings on the Opawa river boundary are completed.
Caroline Rose and partner Tane Malcolm return from Sydney where they were working as Chefs at China Doll and Neil Perry’s Rockpool.
Introducing their Asian inspired food style to Marlborough as they take over the kitchen at the Restaurant and Cellar Door.
Rapaura Road winery undergoes an extension, including 160,000 litre stainless steel tanks and increasing capacity to 8,000 tons.
Sam Rose is appointed Head Winemaker.
Phil Rose wins the coveted Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award.
Demand at the Cellar Door & Restaurant results in further expansion of the mudbrick building, doubling the dining footprint.
An iconic 1980 Airstream Excella is converted into a mobile tasting room. Predominantly used for wine festivals and entertaining overseas visitors it is also a useful family camping caravan.
The 3rd Generation of Rose kids are growing up, hanging out in the Marlborough Sounds
The Kaikōura magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred two minutes after midnight on 14 November. Colossal damage takes out the State Highway one between Seddon and Kaikoura and causes major damage to Marlborough wineries. Rose Family Estate is extremely fortunate and whilst we suffered losses, nobody was hurt.
Kaituna vineyard is purchased. At the time, the Northern most plantings in the Wairau Valley.
RFE Rebrand – The Rose Family Estate crest was developed to reflect the changing nature of the Rose Family wine business.
A large dairy farm on Hillocks Rd is purchased and redeveloped over the winter of 2020.
Staged riparian plantings and a wetland restoration begin as the vineyard is developed.
Rose Family Estate purchases Cravens Rd land previously farmed by earlier generations of the Rose Family.
Covid comes to New Zealand just as Harvest 2020 is due to begin, resulting in particularly difficult working conditions for our team and not even knowing if we were going to be able to harvest and process our grapes until the 11th hour when the government granted the industry ‘essential worker’ status. Various conditions were placed upon the winery staff over 2021 and 2022.
Marlborough was hit by its worst flood on record on July 17, 2021. More than 900 people from 500 properties across Marlborough were evacuated, and dozens of roads were closed across the region.
River levels jumped and officials said it was the largest ever recorded flood in the region. The Wairau River at Barnetts Bank reached
8.946 metres and a peak flow of 6,040 cubic metres per second on 17 July.
Wairau River Estate Sauvignon Blanc is awarded the trophy for Best Sauvignon Blanc at the Marlborough Wine Show.
Marlborough celebrates 50 years of grape growing.
Sam Rose takes on a consultant role and Nick Entwistle announced as Chief Winemaker.
For the 2nd year in a row Wairau River Estate Sauvignon Blanc is awarded a trophy for Sauvignon Blanc at the Marlborough Wine Show.
Rose Family Estate is proud to be a finalist in the Marlborough Environment Awards with the winner to be announced in May 2025.
