Corbans

Corbans Wines is one of New Zealand's oldest wineries. It was established in 1902 by Assid Abraham Corban, a Lebanese immigrant who had arrived in New Zealand ten years earlier. Corbans Wines grew to become the second largest producer of wine in New Zealand until they were purchased by Montana Wines in 2000.[1] Following several takeovers of Montana by Allied Domecq and then Pernod Ricard, Corbans was spun off in 2011 and is now owned by Lion.[2]

History

Assid Abraham Corban purchased a 4-hectare (9.9-acre) block of rural land for £320 in Henderson. Although Henderson is now suburban Auckland, 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, Hermitage, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The first vintage was in 1908, coinciding with the local electorate voting in prohibition, 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.[3]

By the 1960s, Corbans produced New Zealand's first commercial Müller-Thurgau, Pinotage, and Chardonnay 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.[4]

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 zone of the Hawke's Bay wine region, now owned by Mission Estate.[5]

The original estate homestead and winery buildings in Henderson were sold in 1992 to the Waitakere City Council, which repurposed the historic buildings as art studios and galleries, establishing the Corban Estate Arts Centre in 2001.[6]

References
  1. >De Boni, Dita (20 September 2000). "Montana buys out Corbans". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  2. "Pernod to sell NZ wine brands". Radio New Zealand. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
  3. Greco, Shelley (28 February 2014). "We are the Corbans". Western Leader. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  4. Cooper, Michael (1996). "Corban, Assid Abraham". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  5. du Fresne, Karl (17 February 2018). "How a Lebanese immigrant pioneered one of NZ's most dominant wine companies". The Listener. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  6. "History". Corban Estate Arts Centre. Retrieved 20 April 2020.

Further reading
  • Cooper, Michael. (1988). The Wines and Vineyards of New Zealand (3rd Ed.); photography by Robin Morrison; foreword by Jancis Robinson. Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-43137-7.
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