Mr Montana Retires

Gerry Gregg began work for Montana (now Brancott Estate) in 1976 as an engineer, employed initially to oversee the building of the company’s first winery. That building was a far cry from the current state-of-the-art facility that handles tens of thousands of tonnes of fruit. 

Back in December of 76, Gregg was given four months to complete the winery before the first vintage in the region.

Four months, with a budget of almost zilch, meant the winery was a fabrication of the former Titirangi winery, which Mate Yukich transported to Marlborough, piece by piece in his Mercedes truck and trailer.

“When I began, the framework of the building was standing, but it hadn’t been clad or anything. Mate was carting the building piece by piece. We transported the tanks, everything, including the wiring. It was all second hand.”

He believes if Mate could have transported the concrete slab for the foundation, he would have, if only to save money. There was no extra cash available in the Montana piggy bank, and Gregg was given just £1000 to spend on equipment.

“I remember Cresswells had the job for doing the wiring of the building. We had this big pile of used electrical wiring on the concrete floor and they were like sparrows pulling out pieces of straw. They would pull out lengths of the stuff and measure it up to fit. In the end we were losing so much time they were given permission to buy some proper wire.” 

Harvest 1977, Montana’s first in Marlborough saw 800 tonnes being processed. And while Gregg had been employed as an engineer, he was quickly promoted to overseer for the harvest. In those days there was no such thing as the modern machinery seen in vineyards these days. Back then, the only way of getting the grapes from the vineyard to the winery was via a five tonne Bedford Truck, with a tarpaulin tied down over the trailer. It was a long and drawn out process, with all the fruit due in a two week time period. He remembers the first major disaster of that vintage, when someone forgot to tie the tarpaulin down and the entire five tonnes was blown off the truck, right at the entrance to Woodbourne airport.

From overseeing the harvest Gregg was then given the job of dayshift winemaker – a far cry from overseeing the building of a winery. Now he was responsible for making the wine itself. 

“It was pretty basic back then, very different from today. We were making Muller Thurgau and Blenheimer. Peter Hubsher came down and left me with
an A4 piece of paper, which said how to add sulphur and how much. How to analyse the juice and stuff like that, so it was pretty simple.”

Shortly after that first vintage, Gregg was involved in a serious accident with a rewinding irrigation hose. He very nearly lost his right hand and was lucky to get away with his life apparently.

“The Labour Department came to see me in hospital and told me I was seconds away from death. That was a life changer for me. But it also gave me the intro into the management side of things. I would probably still be a baggy arse in overalls now, if that hadn’t happened. I couldn’t do the work I had previously been doing, so I went into assistant manager and later took over the management, when John (Marris) went into the vineyard side of things.”

From there on in, Gregg became the face of Montana in the region. It was him who first suggested that the Marlborough Wine Festival should look at Brancott Vineyard as a one-stop site, 28 years ago. He was the chair of the Festival Committee for many years, was heavily involved in the local wine governing body prior to it becoming Wine Marlborough, and played an integral part in working with the community to help ease the tension that was initially felt about the growing wine industry.

In 2007 he was the recipient of the inaugural Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award, for his services to the industry in the preceding 30 years. 

Job wise, he has moved from engineer, to cellar hand, assistant manager to winery manager, national winery manager to Brand Ambassador for Brancott Estate.

There have been highs and lows, but the time Gregg remembers the most is the Gisborne Earthquake in 2007 that occurred just five days before Christmas. He was Pernod Ricard’s National Wineries Manager at the time, in charge of not only Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay, but also Gisborne. 

“We damaged about 305 tanks in that quake which was a massive loss. The reports were that the damage bill across the region was about $50 million worth.  Well we were a bit over $45 million in damage ourselves, although we never reported that at the time.”
Getting the winery back up and running was a full time job for Gregg who had to travel up to Gisborne constantly, something he did for the next three years. 

“We re-structured the winery and sold off a lot of tanks. We replaced some of them, then built new receival areas – and then we sold it.”

With 38 years under his belt, Gregg has now said goodbye, with just a tinge of sadness.

“I was on a high most of the time. There wasn’t any down time in a year. You would have your vintage and that would run for a few months, because it is such a large winery. 

“Then you would have your post vintage and that was planning for what you would do for the following year, which would involve costings for expansion. Then at the end of the year you would be starting to expand and rushing to get everything finished in time for the vintage. Then you started all over again.

“It has been so positive and I have been on a high for most of the time. I think I have met every Prime Minister since 1976, and most of the Australian ones. I have met the Queen and even the Commander of the Enterprise Aircraft carrier. So it’s been a great time, one I wouldn’t have missed for anything.”

For a man who admits the only grapes he had come across prior to 1976 were at the green grocers, it has been a fascinating 38 years – one of huge advancement in terms of the Marlborough wine industry. And one he has been proud to be a part of.