Some Clair vision brought about a $10m winery

Judy and Neal Ibbotson are looking to build overseas markets

When a partner in their joint-venture winery sold to a multinational last year, viticulture pioneers Neal and Judy Ibbotson took a $10 million plunge to build a winery for their Saint Clair Estate Wines.

Its opening in Marlborough at the weekend comes 28 years after the couple first started growing grapes in the region and will provide the much-needed capacity to meet growing demand for Saint Clair's wines overseas.

The Ibbotsons started growing grapes in 1978 under contract for local wine companies.

A former farm adviser, Neal Ibbotson was looking to generate extra income and for a horticultural enterprise the couple could work on together.

With a team of friends, they developed their 12 hectares of land - bought with funds from doing up and reselling houses - into a vineyard, with time and development costs estimated at $10,000 an acre.

During the next 16 years, they kept developing the vineyard, using the money from the contract growing to buy more land, culminating in the more than 110ha they now own, spread across five regional vineyards.

In 1994, inspired by Marlborough's booming wine industry, they decided to move into winemaking themselves.

New Zealand winemaker Kim Crawford was employed as a consultant winemaker early on.

Wines from the inaugural vintage of 4000 cases of all won medals.

The Saint Clair brand was named after the original settlers of the vineyard property, the Sinclair family, whose forebear James Sinclair built one of the first homes in Blenheim.

Today, Saint Clair produces a wide range of varieties, including sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, chardonnay, riesling, gewurztraminer, pinot noir and merlot - available in four ranges: Vicars Choice, Reserve, Pioneer Block and Premium Marlborough.

Its flagship wine, Saint Clair Wairau Reserve, is also its most awarded sauvignon blanc.

The company expects to produce 250,000 cases of wine this year, 65 per cent of which will be exported.

Neal Ibbotson said building up to that level came after a lot of travel to international wine fairs.

Saint Clair has targeted the quality end of the market, following the successful strategy of other Marlborough wine companies.

Securing good distribution channels has been the biggest challenge to selling overseas and eastern Australia has been a particularly difficult market to crack.

Neal Ibbotson puts that down to huge number of wineries vying for the few good distributors.

"Building up a good reputation and credibility takes time and, until you do, the best distributors are not interested."

Last year, Saint Clair gained listings for three of its wines in the most expensive hotel in the world, The Emirates Palace, in Abu Dhabi.

Until now, Saint Clair had shared the Marlborough Valley Cellars 6500-tonne facility with Cape Campbell and Kim Crawford Wines.

The sale of Kim Crawford to Vincor International in December was the catalyst for the Ibbotsons branching out on their own as they did not want to be in a joint venture with a large multinational.

"They tend to do business a little differently to a smaller family company. We wanted to be in control of our own destiny and make the best quality wines we could," Neal Ibbotson said.

"To do so, we felt it was better to have complete control over the whole winemaking process."

The opening of the 3300-tonne winery at Riverlands Estate, 10km south of Blenheim, was a "significant step forward" for Saint Clair and has seen a doubling in full-time staff to 14. Another 20 casual staff are employed during harvest, which is now under way.

Although small by international standards, Saint Clair is the largest family-owned winery in Marlborough.

As managing director, Neal Ibbotson is responsible for the vineyards, operations and export markets.

The couple's three children also work in the business; son Tony as graphic designer, daughters Sarina and Julie in sales and marketing.

As time goes on, the couple expect the children to become a bigger part of the business.

"Never in his wildest dreams," did Neal Ibbotson envisage he would build a $10 million winery and export award-winning wine around the world.

"What I've learnt most is how little I really know," he said.

Now, with the winery up and running, the company has the potential to double production over the next two to three years - provided demand for wine keeps growing.

That will help the company grow its markets in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Scandinavia and, to a lesser extent, Europe and Asia.