The inside story
What was it like growing up on one of Martinborough’s founding vineyards? Ata Rangi’s Vanessa (Ness) Paton talks to Sue McLeary. Photo by Pete Monk
Ness vividly recalls the sunny day a big transport truck came down the drive of the Kahutara dairy farm where her father Clive Paton was sharemilker, “and took all our stuff”. She was five.
“They unloaded the truck at this big bare sheep paddock in Puruatanga Road, with wire fences and a very basic house. Dad had sold his sharemilking cows to buy the land, so this was our new home and he started turning the bare stony five hectares into his dream of a vineyard,” she remembered.
Clive was one of the district’s “founding four” who saw possibilities in the stony soil, dry climate, warm days and cool nights. All the things premium quality grapes, especially pinot noir, love.
The fledgling vineyard was called Ata Rangi, representing ‘Dawn sky. New beginnings’. The name was gifted to Clive by Mita Carter when he first brought the land.
Ness recalls “I had several jobs. When I was about 6 or 7, and the vine planting had started, I had to follow the cultivator, pick up the bigger stones and put them under the new vines. Shifting stones was to stop damaging the machinery, but I realised later it could also have helped with heat retention for the baby vines.
“Dad always says he knew exactly how stony and free-draining the ground round here is, after constantly skinning his knees playing rugby. He’s still proud of his rugby highlight – playing for Wairarapa and scoring the first try against the Lions on Tour here, in the ‘70s.
“We had a pigsty where the office is now, and Dad grew vegetables – pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbages – to sell from a little roadside stall. It provided an income while we waited for the vines to grow. Even then he loved growing things.
“Looking back, I realise it was probably a fairly hand-to-mouth scenario but Dad was always trying new things as we planted vines and it seemed both exciting and hard at times. My memories of Martinborough township are of dusty gravel roads and boarded-up buildings,” she says.
Ata Rangi is now and always has been a family winery. Ali Paton, Clive’s sister, worked for wine distributors in London, and bought a 2ha adjoining paddock in Cambridge Road. This created Ali’s own vineyard, which supplied Clive with pinot noir fruit.
“Ali came home in 1990 and is one of the many backbones of the company,” Ness says.
“She keeps the place running and shuns the limelight, and only now as I am working with her as an adult have I come to fully realise that her deep knowledge of the international wine distribution trade is invaluable”.
“Nowadays Ali’s dog Harry is our official meeter and greeter at the cellar door, and everyone adores him”.
In 1989 Clive married Phyll Pattie, a Marlborough winemaker who brought professional winemaking expertise and experience. Ata Rangi Pinot Noir won the prestigious Bouchard-FinlaysonAward in 1995, 1996 and 2001, putting the vineyard on the international map.
Ness grins, “I was Clive’s date in 1996 in London at the award ceremony. Around that time I was at Hutt Valley High School, living with my mother and coming back to Martinborough alternate weekends.”
Ness realises now that time was the making of her. She trained as a classical chef at Wellington Polytechnic – “possibly inspired by my wonderful grandmother, Lulu Paton, whose baking was world-famous in Martinborough. Eventually I realised being a chef was not for me, although I still love to cook for friends and family.”
Ness met a young winemaker working for Palliser, John Kavanagh, at a mid-vintage party in the 90s. The couple married in 2000 and in 2002 moved to Nelson when John became the winemaker for Neudorf Vineyard. “In 2012 John was lured back to Martinborough by Andrew Shackleton at Te Kairanga. I enjoyed Nelson but as a winemaker John could not resist “the lure of such great Martinborough fruit” so took up the winemaker role at Te Kairanga.
“Martinborough had blossomed in my absence, although I still miss being by the water in Nelson. Our vibrant winemaker Helen Masters joined the team in 2003 and her dynamism has helped shape Ata Rangi, achieving organic certification as well as creating consistently superb wines.”
She says that Clive and Phyll have created something very special with their Bush Block, planting 75,000 trees over 20 years, in the Aorangi Ranges south of Martinborough. Project Crimson aims to restore the native rata, and gives its name to our younger vine pinot noir.
“When I returned to Ata Rangi in 2018 it was like coming home, but to a different, more grown-up home. I manage the cellar door and tastings.
“The level of wine knowledge among visitors has changed profoundly: they know more, they are looking for insights and deeper experiences.” Ata Rangi’s cellar door is now by appointment only, for a structured tasting for up to 10 guests.
“That sounds formal but it’s not; we sit and talk with the guests, engage with them, share experiences and reactions to the wine and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“This gives us more flexibility to respond to our guests’ interests and we’ve had some great conversations. We’re always delighted when guests come back, again and again and bring their friends,” she says.
Looking back, Ness says she was “everybody’s child and village-raised”.
“Clive and I have a very strong relationship, and I love the way people who used to think he was ‘mad’ 40 years ago now describe him as ‘visionary’!”
