Four leading figures of the Hawke’s Bay wine scene will be made life members of Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Inc at a special event on November 4.

Alan Limmer, John Buck, Kevyn Moore and Alywn Corban will be honoured at an event to celebrate 30 years of winemaking and related activities in Hawke’s Bay.

In 1979, eight Hawke’s Bay wineries established the first regional vintner’s group, Hawke’s Bay Vintners. This year, its descendant organisation, Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Inc, has invited current members to celebrate the progress made since then.

More than 16 wineries will be providing tastings of their wines, and no doubt there will be a few toasts to Messrs Limmer, Buck, Moore and Corban during the night.

“These men are all very supportive of regional co-operation and marketing of Hawke’s Bay as a wine region,” says Rod McDonald, Chair of HBWG.

“And I’m sure they endorse the views of those who established HB Vintners. In fact, John Buck was one of the men instrumental in establishing HB Vintners back in 1979 and has worked consistently since to successfully gain international recognition for Hawke’s Bay wines.”

The relationship between the Club and the winemakers came about through a suggestion by the HB Vintners’ foundation secretary Ash Oldershaw, who was also a committee member of the Club. 

The eight founding wineries who first provided wines for tasting at the inaugural Vintners’ Night were Te Mata Estate Winery, Mission Estate Winery, Eskdale Wines, Vidal Wines, Glenvale Winery, Brookfields Winery, McWilliams Wines and Lombardi Wines.

Most of NZ’s sSyrah vines derive from these original cuttings.
He released New Zealand’s first commercial syrah in 1989 and first zinfandel as well.   Alan is regarded as the man who saved the Gimblett Gravels area from shingle mining. Is a past HBWG board member and chair.

Ngatarawa began as the shared vision of two very different families. What the Corban family name is to winemaking, so the Glazebrook family name is to farming. It was the remarkable union of these two families, with their rich heritages of vision, innovation and passion that saw Ngatarawa Wines established in former racing Stables in 1981.

When Alwyn Corban and Garry Glazebrook converted the Stables and planted their vineyard, it was one of New Zealand's earliest boutique wineries. Ngatarawa still remains a key pioneer of grape-growing and winemaking in the Bridge Pa Triangle on the western edge of the Heretaunga Plains in Hawke's Bay.

In 1999, after 18 years of pioneering, the Glazebrook family sold their shareholding to Alwyn and Brian Corban. Today, Ngatarawa is owned by cousins Alwyn and Brian Corban who continue their family's 100 year winemaking heritage in New Zealand.

John Buck, Te Mata Estate Winery
John’s contribution to the New Zealand wine industry extends well beyond his role at Te Mata Estate. John was involved in wine judging in both Australia and New Zealand for many years, first joining the National Tasting Panel in 1969. In 1979, he was made Chairman of Judges for the National Wine Show, the first New Zealander to be appointed to the position. 

While he is currently chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Opera House, he also served as Chairman of Hawke’s Bay Vintners in the 1980s and from 1991 to 1996 as Chairman of the New Zealand Wine Institute.

In 1990, John was awarded the Commemoration Medal for Services to New Zealand, and in 1995, an OBE for services to the wine industry, and a Fellowship of the Wine Institute of New Zealand in 2000.John Buck was chairman of the Wine Institute of New Zealand, a past chairman of Hawke’s Bay Vintners and a past chairman of what is now the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

John Buck set out in the late 1970s to make great red wine. He achieved that and established the standard for everyone else in the industry.

Kevyn Moore
Kevyn Moore received the highest wine industry accolade when he was inducted into New Zealand Wine’s Hall of Fame in 2008. He is the second-only Hawke's Bay inductee, along with Tom McDonald OBE, FWINZ awarded this honour in 2005.

Kevyn is a previous vice-president of HB Grape Growers and was president of the New Zealand Grape Growers Council for five years. The award celebrated Kevyn’s major contribution to the development and enhancement of New Zealand’s wine industry. 

Kevyn is best known for his strategic work to develop a single unified industry body, New Zealand Winegrowers, from the separate entities Grape Growers Council and the Wine Institute. He also advocated for an industry journal, New Zealand Winegrower.
Kevyn was also the leading force in the development of the annual Romeo Bragato Conference and Bragato Wine Awards, beginning in 1995.