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Alison Paton (Ali) is a co-owner and director of Ata Rangi along with the other two shareholders, her brother Clive and his wife Phyll. Ali shared Clive's early vision, and in 1982 bought 2 hectares of bare land next door to the original block. While Clive worked to establish her vineyard, Ali, then a registered nurse, travelled to the UK where she worked both in private London hospitals and in the wine retail trade. She also gained the internationally recognised Wine and Spirit Education Trust Diploma, already focussed on a future career in the industry. On her return to New Zealand, Ali worked for Eurowine (Ata Rangi's New Zealand trade distributor) for a year. Ata Rangi finance and admin are Ali's full time role today. She is ably supported by Helen McLeod and Eleanor Dodd. With her special weakness for dessert wines, Ali is suspected of sweet-talking Olly into making the original Kahu. Ali's delightful 10-year old son Miller is a budding soccer ace, with a penchant for computer and board games.
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Phyllis Pattie (Phyll) began her career with a Food Technology degree from Massey, working at first in the Dairy Industry before 'discovering' wine in the north of Italy in the late 70's. She joined Montana Wines in 1980, originally as cellar-master, and later as a winemaker in Blenheim. She met Clive there in 1986 on a 'technical exchange' weekend for a group of Martinborough winemakers. The rest is history, as they say. After moving in with Clive and daughter Ness in 1987, she took on two jobs - commuting to Wellington to work in an R&D/marketing role for the NZ Dairy Board as well as taking an active winemaking, technical and admin role at the winery. A Director and co-owner of Ata Rangi, Phyll now looks after export marketing and the 20-something countries that this involves. As a mother of two (Britt 17, and Mackenzie 15) involved with school and ponies and kids' activities, life is always pretty full on.
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Eleanor Dodd joined us part time early in 2004, juggling motherhood with the many and varied demands of a typical small family-winery. Eleanor, a highly qualified winemaker, quietly tackles a multitude of tasks - from lab analysis and data entry, to ordering packaging and packing out wine orders. After graduating with a Microbiology degree, and a post-grad Diploma in Wine Technology from Roseworthy (SA) Eleanor gained vintage experience at Coldstream Hills in Australia, Domaine Drouhin in Oregon, and Chandon de Briailles and Louis Latour in France. She was assistant winemaker to Larry McKenna at Martinborough Vineyard for 5 years being moving to Sileni in Hawkes Bay in 1999. She and husband Blair Savage moved back in 2003, shortly after the birth of their daughter Catriona. With her vast industry experience and knowledge, we feel very fortunate to have her in the team.
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Bron De Grey is our delightful and knowledgeable cellar door manager. She's nearly always on duty at weekends and often during the holidays too. Bron arrived unannounced one spring afternoon in 2006 after relocating from Perth. We offered her a job on the spot, and it's a decision we’ve never regretted! Full of enthusiasm for the wines, for our visitors and indeed for life in general, Bron will go the extra mile to make your visit special. Bron is also a qualified biochemist with wine industry experience from her time in Western Australia. Keen to expand her skills to production and winemaking, she spent around two months at Ken Wright Cellars in Oregon lending a hand in both winery and lab during their 2008 harvest. She was obviously a hard-working, capable and sunny addition to their team, from all accounts!
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Helen McLeod joined us as a part-timer in 2005, the year that she and husband Guy McMaster moved from Christchurch to Martinborough. Helen was formerly manager of the Cervical Screening Programme at Christchurch Women’s Hospital, where she’d worked for almost ten years after returning from an extended OE. She’s a BA grad with a degree in Psychology, and mother of five year old Will and toddler Emily. Helen’s on payroll (up to 40 people at picking time), pays the bills and is responsible for a variety of other admin roles, all of which she tackles with daunting efficiency. She’s a terrific people-person and effective whip-cracker, with her bubbly and unfailing sense of humour - a minimum requirement for chasing up time sheets and wayward managers for work-related receipts (with the added challenge of deciphering the ones that emerge from laundered pockets.) Helen’s interests include gardening and golf, and she’s keen on chasing her husband’s golf handicap. If she catches on as fast as she has here, he’s in big trouble!
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