Assid Abraham Corban (25 August 1864 – 2 December 1941) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

pedlar, importer, viticulturist and wine-maker. He was born in Shweir,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

on 25 August 1864. He founded Corbans, now one of New Zealand's oldest and largest

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

ries. Corban arrived in New Zealand in 1892. In 1902 he purchased for £320 a block of land in

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada * H ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, although at the time this was quite some distance from what was known as Auckland. He named the block of land Mt Lebanon Vineyards. The first vintage was in 1908, coinciding with the local electorate voting in

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

, meaning he was unable to sell wine from the property. Assid's son Wadier took over wine-making in 1916. By the 1920s the Corban family were the largest winemakers in New Zealand. Corban died in 1941. He was buried at

Waikumete Cemetery Waikumete Cemetery, originally Waikomiti Cemetery, is New Zealand's largest cemetery. It occupies a site of 108 hectares in Glen Eden, Auckland, and also contains a crematorium in the south-west corner of the cemetery. History Waikumete Cemetery ...

in Glen Eden in a mausoleum that was built one year after his death, due to labour and materials shortages caused by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His tomb was broken into in the early 1990s. In 1997, Corban was inducted into the

New Zealand Business Hall of Fame The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have made a significant contribution to the economic and social development of New Zealand. The hall was established in 1994 by the Young Enterpri ...

. One of Corban's descendants, Assid Khaleel Corban, became a West Auckland local-body politician and rose to become the

mayor of Waitakere City The Mayor of Waitakere City was the head of the former municipal government of Waitakere City, New Zealand, who presided over the Waitakere City Council. The city was New Zealand's fifth largest, and was part of the Auckland region. There were onl ...

References

1864 births 1941 deaths Burials at Waikumete Cemetery Viticulturists New Zealand winemakers Lebanese emigrants to New Zealand {{wine-bio-stub