John Buchanan, who founded Mt Riley in 1992, has some great stories of his life in the wine industry, many of which I have promised not to put into print. In his early days, he worked at London wine merchant Rutherford, Osborne, Perkins before it was sold to Martini Rossi in the 1960’s. At that time Serena Sutcliffe MW, the head of Sotheby’s wine department was the company’s typist. How she has climbed up the ranks…
At that time Louis Roederer was the company’s house wine and cost £3 a bottle on account. “It was an everyday plonk,” he says.
Since his days of drinking cheap Roederer, he has held a number of roles in the industry including CFO at Corbans.
Now 18 years-old, Mt Riley has 103 hectares under vine and exports 70% of its production. Buchanan’s mother was a Marlborough girl so he does have family connections to the region unlike many newcomers. However, this has its drawbacks. She was one of nine and ‘all of the relatives came out of the woodwork’ when they heard there was wine up for grabs.
His daughter, Amy, heads up marketing and her now-husband, Matt Murphy, is the winemaker. And he’s foolishly agreed to do a Christmas Unfiltered. Thanks for being a good sport, Matt…
