Ata Rangi People: Helen
For many of us, Helen Masters is the winemaker we think of whenever Martinborough is mentioned. It’s reasonable given she’s spent almost all of her winemaking life in the region. She knows this place. She lives it. She and her husband Ben have raised their children here. Family roots are as established as the vines that put the region on the map.
Helen won Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year in 2019 after 16 years of making wine at Ata Rangi. That was a personal tribute but the wines Helen has made over that time have earned their own accolades. They have graced the dining tables of some of the world’s top restaurants and are revered by wine aficionados from all over the globe.
Read on to learn a little more about our wonderful winemaker.
When did you first move to Martinborough?
I had my gap year in Martinborough in 1990! I had come up with this idea of being a winemaker but knew of no one doing it so thought a bit of a practical experience was sensible! Michael Coopers Wine Atlas of New Zealand highlighted Ata Rangi in the Wairarapa, so I thought I would write a letter and see if they needed any help. I grew up in Otaki but had never visited the Wairarapa before my trek over the hill to meet the folk at Ata Rangi. Phyll had just had her first baby - so welcomed me with open arms and I spent an amazing formative year learning all aspects of the wine business from hospitality (changing nappies) to leaf plucking on a hot and humid summer day. I loved it. The following year I went to Massey and studied Food Technology the popular choice of study for winemakers back then.
When did you start making wine for Ata Rangi?
I re-joined Ata Rangi in late 2003 and dived in at the deep end, joining as assistant but quickly becoming winemaker - something that just happened so I didn’t have a lot of time to stress on it.
What’s the one region in the world you’d really love to make wine in?
Gosh this a tough question, I have spent so much time in Martinborough that I feel very wedded to the land here. It would be like having an affair to make wine somewhere else (even thinking about it feels wrong!?) The fact that I feel so grounded here is probably making the current travel restrictions more bearable.
What do you think makes Martinborough so special for Pinot Noir?
The climate here is unforgiving in the spring, cold, wet winds from the Antarctic, more often than not play havoc at flowering. Causing the number of potential berries within a bunch to be reduced. Flowering is by wind so warmer calmer conditions will give you more successful fertilisation and a resulting bigger, fuller bunch. In Martinborough our bunch architecture is more open and the skin of berries more robust in response to these conditions. This all results in lower yields and a more savoury aspect to the wines. The longer cooler summer due to the proximity to the Pacific Ocean allow for complex tannins, which give the longer spine often observed in wines from our region.
Ata Rangi makes a variety of wines including Sauvignon Blanc. What can people expect from an Ata Rangi Sauvignon Blanc?
Here it’s all about expressing the fruit we get from our low yields and deep free draining gravels in Martinborough. Our Sauvignon grape skins have so much flavour that in 2014 I started fermenting with skins to capture some of the amazing fruit and spice characters that I could taste in the fruit but never seemed to come through completely in the pressed juice. A portion is whole bunches filled directly into a fermenter and allowed to take its time to ferment with yeast from our place (for all our wines I do not add cultivated yeast but rely on yeast that are naturally present in our environment). The whole berries attached to the stems slowly ferment, each berry a mini fermentation. Another portion is destemmed, so skins only, this ferments a little quicker than the whole bunches and gives a wonderful texture to the palate. The resulting wine has an exotic twist to the nose and is textural and salivating.
What has been your favourite vintage at Ata Rangi and why?
Each vintage has its own unique set of weather conditions that you move and work with , so it’s hard to pick one in particular. But for me one to look back on with pride is 2017, shocking weather at harvest time, but an amazing team of humans giving it their all. The wines have an energy to them that I love.
Ata Rangi has established itself as one of NZ’s most iconic winery brands. Do you feel a sense of pressure to be consistent, adhere to a ‘house style’ or do you feel there’s freedom to truly reflect the season as Ata Rangi sees it?
It’s a question I am asked often, I honestly just try to really express the site. Adjusting and rethinking each site and how we nurture it in the winery as the vines age. So there is always a soft evolution that happens and I think that is healthy.
You also grow grapes with your husband Ben — The Masters Vineyard. Tell us a little bit about that vineyard site and the wine you make from it for Ata Rangi.
I got to know what is now known as the Masters vineyard in 2007 when I first starting working with this fruit. It’s about 4km south of town with layered clay and deep gravels. The Masters Vineyard is slightly cooler than town and I love this aspect of it. The wines from it are quite singular and I have loved finding this sites voice, and bringing that through in the wines. When the vineyard came up for sale 6 years ago we got to make it our home. Ben works in the vineyard so it is a family effort but when he’s not in the vines, he’s in his workshop hand-crafting bespoke wallpaper for his design company, Paperhands.
