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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 winery in Blenheim, and was chosen to reduce confusion in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
market with wines from the state of
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
. The winery has been significant enough throughout New Zealand's wine history that the ''Montana'' name is still used on domestic labelling due to its strong brand recognition.


History of Montana Wines

Montana was founded by Ivan and Amanda Yukich (Jukić), Croatian immigrants who planted their first vines in 1934, in Titirangi, situated in the
Waitākere Ranges The Waitākere Ranges is a mountain range in New Zealand. Located in West Auckland between metropolitan Auckland and the Tasman Sea, the ranges and its foothills and coasts comprise some of public and private land. The area, traditionally kno ...
west of
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 ...
. The first wine was sold in 1944, and by 1960 of vineyards were planted. Ivan's sons, Mate and Frank, had become involved, and they set up the company Montana Wines in 1961. By the end of the 1960s, the company had expanded further, planting vines on land south of Auckland. In 1973, the company expanded into Gisborne and
Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...
and exported its first wines in 1980. Montana was listed on the
New Zealand Stock Exchange New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of 1 ...
, initially as 'Corporate Investments Limited', and then as Montana Wines. It was the main sponsor of the
Montana New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...
from 1994 to 2009. In 2000, Montana successfully purchased Corbans Wines, New Zealand's second largest producer at the time, to control 60% of domestic wine sales and a large majority of the country's wine exports. Montana was then itself taken over by the British firm
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. Th ...
in 2001 after eventually outbidding
Lion Nathan Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the Unite ...
, and four years later Allied Domecq was bought by Pernod Ricard in 2005. In 2010, Pernod Ricard sold off several of its brands, including Lindauer and Corbans Wines, to a partnership formed between Lion and Indevin, another large New Zealand wine operator.


Wineries

Montana Wines at various times has had several wineries spread around the country.


Brancott Winery

Located on
State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...
, just south of Blenheim, the Brancott winery was opened in 1977 and produces all of its Marlborough wines (mostly Sauvignon Blanc), and wine from Waipara vineyards as well. Many of the grapes for Montana's sparkling wines are pressed here, but secondary fermentation is carried out at the Tamaki Winery.


Church Road Winery

Founded in 1897, the Church Road Winery is one of the three oldest in the Hawkes Bay. The first commercial Cabernet Sauvignon in New Zealand was produced here in 1949 by Tom McDonald. The Church Road facility was purchased by Montana in 1988. In recent years, the winery has increased its operation (with the closure of the Corbans Hawke's Bay winery) and the expansion of the Church Road brand portfolio.


Corbans Winery

The Corbans winery was established by McWilliam's Wines in 1981, changing hands to Cooks in 1984, Corbans in 1987, and Montana in 2000. It was a more commercial scale facility than Church Road and contributed to Longridge, Corbans, Verde, Huntaway and Robard & Butler brands. The Corbans brand was sold to Lion in 2010, and in 2012 the winery was closed with most of its production integrated into the nearby Church Road facility.


Montana Gisborne Winery

The Montana Gisborne Winery was one of the largest wine-making facilities in the country. Montana's original facility was acquired in 1973, from the business established by Fredrich Wohnsiedler (whose name lived on for a long time in a Montana product line). Two further adjacent facilities were incorporated, from Penfolds NZ in 1986 and Corbans in 2000. In 2010, Pernod Ricard sold the winery and some associated brands to the Lion Indevin partnership.


Tamaki Winery

All Montana wines are bottled at the Tamaki Winery in Auckland, opened in 1975. This also means that all sparkling wines undergo secondary fermentation (in the bottle) in Auckland.


Key Brands

Pernod-Ricard operates several different brands in New Zealand. Ranked approximately in order of prestige.


Church Road

Originally the Tom McDonald Winery, the Church Road Winery in Taradale near Napier represents a flagship brand. It produces mainly Merlot- Cabernet blends, Syrah, Chardonnay,
Pinot Gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...
, and Sauvignon Blanc in several tiers. In order of price, the ''Tom'' wines are positioned at the premium end of the market and are some of New Zealand's most expensive wines. Next are the ''Grand Reserve'' and ''McDonald Series'' ranges, and finally the range of cheaper white-label ''Church Road'' wines are available in supermarkets.


Montana Wines, Brancott Estate

In 2010, Montana Wines was renamed Brancott Estate, where its wines had already been sold for over a decade with this label. Today only its ''Winemaker Series'' of wines carries the Montana brand name within New Zealand, since there is still strong ''Montana'' brand recognition and association with New Zealand wine. Ironically, some of the Montana labelled wines are made with grapes from Australia. Montana has several levels of wines under the label Brancott Estate. The most prestigious 'estate' label is the Letter Series, a range of Marlborough only wines. The letter used to relate to the name of the vineyard when wines came from other regions previously (e.g. O for Ormond, Gisborne). * Letter Series; "B" Sauvignon Blanc, "O" Chardonnay, "P" Gewürztraminer, "T" Pinot Noir, "R" Sauvignon Gris, "F" Pinot Gris. Available wine series (in no particular order); * Montana Winemaker Series * Brancott Estate Series * Brancott Estate single region Terroir Series * Brancott Estate Letter Series * Brancott Estate organic Living Land Series * Brancott Estate low alcohol Flight Series * Brancott Estate Sparkling Series (including a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris)


Deutz

From 1988, Montana's premium
sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...
brand has been a collaboration with Champagne Deutz of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. * Deutz Marlborough Cuvée * Deutz Blanc de Blanc * Deutz Pinot Noir Cuvée.


Stoneleigh

A Marlborough-based vineyard producing mostly mid-market white wines, and using light-coloured stones in the vineyard to reflect sunlight up into the canopy to improve ripening.


See also

* Pernod Ricard * Pernod Ricard Winemakers


References


External links


Brancott Estate
website {{Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard brands Wineries of New Zealand