Counting Sheep

She’s a hard road finding the perfect farm, boy. Especially with the high standards of a family that had a significant influence in the creation of one of New Zealand’s leading wine companies.

Words: Kate Coughlan  Photographs: Mark Smith

PETER AND JOANNA MASFEN and their son Rolf (who runs the family-owned investment properties) took 10 years to find everything they wanted in a farm. Like the southern men of the advertising campaign for Speights beer – on such a hard road to finding their perfect woman – the Masfens’ perfect-farm checklist took years to fill.

In 2002, when they learned that a share in a large Southland station might be for sale, they moved quickly. They had identified this province as one with ample average rainfall. The fact that the rain fell evenly throughout the year was of particular interest. Mount Linton is one of the country’s oldest private stations. It lies on the eastern side of the Takitimu Ranges bordering Fiordland National Park in western Southland and has been farmed by the McGregor family for 103 years. At 11,0000ha it is one of the largest private farming enterprises in the country with a capacity to winter-over a total of 100,000 stock units. With 4200ha of easy and well-watered downs country, a considerable portion of it could be converted to dairy although that is not what the current owners wish to do.

Peter Masfen, who chaired (and was also the largest single shareholder of) the large wine producer and exporter Montana Wines before its 2002 billion-dollar takeover by UK liquor giant Allied Domecq, believes there is a great future for the New Zealand lamb industry. He is impressed with the significant portion of the high-value internationally traded lamb that New Zealand accounts for and sees in that an opportunity for strong branding and distribution of product.

"The position with lamb production contrasts with that of beef production, where New Zealand will continue to be price takers. But the New Zealand lamb industry has revolutionized its product and image from a frozen carcass commodity to a chilled product, cut and packaged for the top end of the market and with a shelf-life of 16 weeks. And chilled New Zealand lamb sells at the very top of the price range for meat."
With this in mind the Masfens set about finding their perfect property and over the years they looked at a good many. "Water is gold and access to water will become more and more important in New Zealand. In considering Mount Linton, we were impressed not only with the adequacy of water supply in the region but also with the fact that the rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year, providing a significant benefit over most other areas of New Zealand."

Mount Linton (left) is a blessed property in many ways and the arrival of one of the country’s leading entrepreneurial families wanting a partnership heralds another chapter in a history studded with good fortune. Water is one of its many bounties. On its western boundary the Wairaki River is fed by numerous streams running off the Takitimu Ranges that capture the high rainfall coming across the Tasman. Here the annual rainfall is 760mm to 1500mm across a farm that varies in elevation from 120m to 800m.

Coal is another Mount Linton blessing. In 1948 the government compulsorily acquired rights to a seam of high-quality coal running under Mount Linton near the township of Ohai. The resulting substantial financial settlement was crucial in funding massive development of new pasture and an infrastructure of roads, fences, buildings and drains that would be, even today, the goal of many a large station.

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