Thursday, 17 March 2016 19:34

Family vines

Written by  Tessa Nicholson
John and Beth Forrest – the beginning of a family dynasty. John and Beth Forrest – the beginning of a family dynasty.

The New Zealand wine scene is so young, that multi generational companies are somewhat of an oddity, rather than the norm.

In this new NZWinegrower series, we take a look at some of the families, where more than one member has entered the world of wine. Whether they be siblings or children following in their parent's footsteps, they are creating their own Family Vine.

On the outskirts of Renwick, in Marlborough, Forrest Estate is one of those that are in the process of creating a dynasty. John Forrest is a fifth generation Marlburian, and initially made his name in biomedical research science, while his wife Brigid was a GP. Both had a passion for wine and despite living outside of Marlborough for many years, they were keen to to return to their roots and unleash that passion.

So in 1988 they bought an 8-hectare block on SH6, a few kilometres from the Renwick township. They have three children, Reid, Beth and Sam. All three are involved in some way with the business. Reid who is a marine biologist, is a member of the Board. Sam, who is marketing manager for Heineken is keen to bring his skill set back into Forrest Estate. And Beth is a winemaker, alongside her father.

This is John and Beth's story as told separately to Tessa Nicholson.

John Forrest, 60

I was in biomedical research in Adelaide and Brigid had just bought into a general practice when Beth was born – so she is an Australian. I remember her birth very well, as I had to give up my first senior rugby refereeing appointment to be at her birth – which was a real bugger. The obstetrician had forgotten about Brigid and he was about to go on two weeks holiday. He could only fit her in on the Saturday to induce her, which wasn't what I wanted at all. I wanted it to be on the Friday – but it wasn't to be.

Beth has always been the laid back type. She is determined and as stubborn as – that is probably a trait she got from her mother and father if the truth be told. She was delightful as a child, chatty with that stubborn streak. But she always wanted to do things with you, was happy to be around doing whatever you were doing.

She was three and a half when we came to Marlborough, so her childhood is basically this place. When we came here we had a skyline garage with two bedrooms, some bare land which we planted in vines and an apple orchard.

This was the late 80s when apples were actually profitable, so I kept them for a while.

She was always a bit of a tomboyish land girl, and she modelled herself on her older brother.

She always used to come down to the apple orchard with me, with her cloth books and her toys. There was this one time when I was thinning apples, and came back up to the house for morning tea. I had a cup of coffee and then realised that I didn't have Beth. I raced back to the orchard and there she was sitting under the same tree, quite happy. There was a damn creek just 100 metres away – it gave me a bit of a shock.

Beth was probably the one that was most interested in getting out with me. Not to say the others weren't, they have all been pretty good at tolerating me working all the time.

One plus about living on site with your shop and your office 10 metres one way and the winery 20 metres the other way, was I could in the absence of Brigid, bring up the family. (Brigid being a doctor and obstetrician, was working long hours at the time).

I know one of Beth's memories of me is forgetting to pick them up from school. I would get so engrossed in a meeting or in the vineyard that I would literally forget about them. The staff got so good, that if the kids hadn't turned up within an hour of school finishing, they would dispatch someone to go and collect them for me. It would be about five o'clock and suddenly I would realise that I hadn't picked the kids up. That didn't happen just once, it happened regularly. So I wasn't the perfect domestic dad by any means.

John and Beth.I had come from a multi generational farming background and what I saw was the oldest son being given the farm and yet they couldn't farm to save themselves. So when we came into this business, while I was hopeful that we were setting up a multi generational wine business here in Marlborough, I never asked them or insisted they even think about coming into the industry. The end result now is that I have two of them that desperately want to be involved in the business and the oldest, even though he doesn't drink, is passionate about the company. So they are all involved of their own volition.

Beth did a four-year degree in geography and the summer after she graduated, she just decided that she wold take herself off to Adelaide to do a masters in wine. She just announced to me, "Dad I want to be in the business and I want to be a winemaker, so I'm going to Adelaide". I was very happy about that. I mean you want your children to be passionate about the business and be involved.

She came back to Forrest at the end of 2014. I was overseas when she finally got back and it was two weeks before I got home. When I got here the whole place was different. Everyone was walking faster and smiling. She had whipped them into shape in two weeks.

I never had a days formal training in winemaking, while Beth did, plus she had done multiple vintages around the world. She brought a great set of skills, and for her age great knowledge which I really appreciate. And she has brought energy. You forget you are getting older and slower, until you see someone younger like her doing what you used to do.

She is a driven, dynamic person, with a lot of my traits and some of her mother's better traits as well. I guess Beth is closer in style to me though.

She still calls me Dad in the winery, rather than John. Although if she wants to make me stop or tell me off she will call me John. I know I have annoyed her, or she is about to tut tut me if I get a John rather than Dad.

While we would have liked it, we didn't start in the wine industry with the view to having a multi generational dynasty.

I am an academic and an observer of history and what I find exciting, is that Marlborough in such a short time has become one of the great wine regions of the world. When Oz Clarke reviewed the 20th Century of wine, he said the only new thing to emerge had been Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Marlborough like Bordeaux or Burgundy will not lose that status, once you get it, it tends to stay. So if you think about that in a logical, dispassionate sense, in 100 or 200 years there will be the Rothschild equivalent here in Marlborough – multi generational successful wine families.

If we at Forrest Estate can do it right and set up a strong foundation, we will hopefully be a part of that for many generations to come.

 

Beth Forrest, 30

One of my earliest memories of Dad relates to a dog called Sledgehammer that we picked up from the SPCA across the road. When we bought the property here, Dad decided we all needed a dog. So we went over and picked one out. It was this ridgeback cross who was huge. On the walk back home, he managed to wrap his chain around my feet and knock me over, then he grabbed Reid's arm and dragged him to the ground. He lasted all of about half a day until Dad took him back to the SPCA. We did get another dog after that, an Alsatian cross, Kara. She was awesome.

John, Beth and Sledgehammer.I spent most of my childhood in the apple orchard with Dad. I was very much a Daddy's girl. Reid was older than me when we came here, so he was at school during the day and Sam hadn't been born then. So I spent a lot of my time with Dad. It was on the tractor in the morning, down to the apple orchard and I would usually sit under a tree, reading my books and hanging out with the dog. And then I would be forgotten by Dad - quite often. I remember Mum coming down the orchard one night in a mad panic in her tiny Honda City. It was about seven o'clock and she had come home from the hospital to find I wasn't at home. I had probably been there on my own for over an hour. She found me literally sitting under a tree with my books and the dog was still with me, so I wasn't that concerned. I suppose he often disappeared off picking and doing things, so I never thought anything about it.

How would I describe Dad? Probably as a big, cuddly bear. But outside of that, he is the mad professor. He has a million ideas a minute, some of them far fangled and some quite practical. He is absolutely convinced that every idea he has got is going to be the next big thing. Then he talks himself out of it halfway through the day. He is also so passionate about what he does – I love that about him.

He was hugely involved when we were growing up, apart from when it came to picking us up from school. In the end we decided we would walk or bike to school – because it was a much better way of ensuring we got home. He would just get so involved with things, that's where his passion comes through. And everything had to be completed, not left in a half hearted mess. I don't think he ever worried that we were in any trouble or weren't capable of looking after ourselves. And as soon as we got home, we'd find Dad, have some afternoon tea and play games of touch or cricket on the front lawn.

As a kid I always wanted to do what my father did. But then I hit the teenage years and quite frankly I was a little bitch. It must have been when I was 16 and all of a sudden I decided that I wanted nothing to do with what my parents did. Winemaking – who would want to do that? So I went to Otago uni and followed geography which had been a passion at high school. I did well and came out with a double major and got offered a position to come back and do a Master then hopefully a PhD in the geography department at Otago. But by then I had come round and decided that after being in the cold of Otago the only thing I really wanted to do was actually follow in my father's footsteps and make wine. It took a few years to realise that I was just running away from it I think. I did the two-year degree in Adelaide and spent almost five years away travelling. I would do a New Zealand vintage and then head overseas for other vintages. But last year I was ready to come back here.

Working with Dad is interesting. I haven't met anyone that has as much passion everyday as he does. I don't know anyone who has as many ideas and such conviction in each of those ideas, even if that conviction is very short lived. Just the energy that comes out of him at 60 is absolutely ridiculous.

We are extremely similar, so we butt heads. But the one thing that comes out of that, and maybe it's part of being family, is that you are forced to listen to each other. If you can put an idea to him and justify it, then you are right. And I am like that too. If it's a far fangled idea that has no backing, you won't get my support.

We do argue, but he will admit that I have it right sometimes. And I have to step down and admit that he is right. I think we keep each other in line

It's hard some days for sure. I walk into the other office and have to bitch about my dad, which is a bit hard to take I guess. And sometimes I want to smash him – but that is the same with many people. But at the end of the day, he is still my big, cuddly bear of a dad.

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