Corbans Wines is one of

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 ...

's oldest

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. It was established in 1902 by

Assid Abraham Corban Assid Abraham Corban (25 August 1864 – 2 December 1941) was a New Zealand pedlar, importer, viticulturist and wine-maker. He was born in Shweir, Lebanon on 25 August 1864. He founded Corbans, now one of New Zealand's oldest and largest win ...

, a Lebanese immigrant who had arrived in New Zealand ten years earlier. Corbans Wines grew to become the second largest producer of

in New Zealand until they were purchased by

Montana Wines Brancott Estate is the brand adopted since 2010 by Pernod Ricard for New Zealand's largest wine producer, formerly Montana Wines, which now operates as the New Zealand division of Pernod Ricard Winemakers. The name comes from its Brancott winer ...

in 2000. Following several takeovers of Montana by

Allied Domecq Allied Domecq PLC was an international company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent but has been acquired by Pernod Ricard. They ...

and then

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

, Corbans was spun off in 2011 and is now owned by

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

History

purchased a block of rural land for £320 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 *He ...

. Although Henderson is now suburban

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, at the time the block was in a rural area quite some distance away, which he named Mt Lebanon Vineyards. The original plantings were Black Hamburgh,

Chasselas Chasselas or Chasselas blanc is a wine grape variety grown mainly in Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, New Zealand, Croatia and Chile. Chasselas is mostly vinified to be a full, dry and fruity white wine. It is als ...

, Hermitage, and

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

. 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 alcoholic ...

, which meant he was unable to sell wine from the property. Assid's son Wadier took over wine-making in 1916, and by the 1920s the Corban family were the largest winemakers in New Zealand. Development of different vineyards by the five sons of Assid Corban continued until 1963 when the partnership of the five brothers was converted into Corban Wines Ltd. By the 1960s, Corbans produced New Zealand's first commercial

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...

Pinotage Pinotage is a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. It was cultivated there in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut (Cinsaut was known as "Hermitage" in South Africa at that time, hence the name). It typically pr ...

, and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

wines, and were pioneering many new developments in winemaking such as using cultured yeast and temperature-control during fermentation, and the use of stainless steel tanks and press machinery. At the same time however, the family struggled to finance increasing competition with Montana Wines. New Zealand food wholesaler Rothman Industries (later Magnum Corporation) took a shareholding, and by 1979 had taken full control. In the 1980s Corbans was also producing wines under the Stoneleigh and Robard and Butler labels. Today, the Corban family are no longer associated with Corbans wines; Alwyn Corban set out in 1981 to establish Ngatarawa Wines in what is now the

Bridge Pa Triangle The Hawke's Bay wine region is New Zealand wine, New Zealand's oldest and second-largest wine-production region, on the east coast of the North Island. Production reached 41,000 tonnes in 2018 from of planted vines, representing 10.2% of total n ...

zone of the

Hawke's Bay wine region The Hawke's Bay wine region is New Zealand wine, New Zealand's oldest and second-largest wine-production region, on the east coast of the North Island. Production reached 41,000 tonnes in 2018 from of planted vines, representing 10.2% of total n ...

, now owned by

Mission Estate Mission Estate Winery is New Zealand's oldest surviving winemaking concern, first established in the Hawke's Bay in 1851 by French Catholic Marist missionaries for producing sacramental wine. It is one of the largest wineries in the Hawke's Ba ...

Corban Estate Arts Centre

The original estate homestead and winery buildings in Henderson were sold in 1992 to the

Waitakere City Council Waitākere City was a territorial authority in West Auckland, New Zealand; it was governed by the Waitākere City Council from 1989 to 2010. It was New Zealand's fifth-largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%. In 2010 the council was a ...

, which repurposed the historic buildings as artist's studios, galleries, office spaces and a café establishing the Corban Estate Arts Centre (CEAC) in 2001. The address is 2 Mt Lebanon Lane and 426 Great North Road, Henderson, Auckland. Since the Auckland city councils merged, the centre is funded by the Auckland City Council and also the Henderson-Massey Local Board. There is a wide range of programmes, including art classes for adults and children and a schools education programme. One example is the Kākano Youth Arts Collective, set up in 2013 in response to concerns about anti-social behaviour of young people in West Auckland. Arts organisations based at Corbans Estate also include Te Pou Theatre, Red Leap Theatre and

Atamira Dance Company Atamira Dance Company is a Māori contemporary dance company in Aotearoa (New Zealand) based at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Auckland. History In 2000, the company was founded from a vision of Jack Gray's for a collective of young Māori ...

References

External links

Corbans homepage
Wineries of New Zealand

History

Corban Estate Arts Centre

References

Further reading

External links