the not serious Helen Masters

We’d love you to meet Helen Masters, winemaker at the iconic Ata Rangi Martinborough. Boy can she knock out a great tasting glass of vino. 

On a grey, Auckland Saturday morning, Helen arrived at our K Road podcast studio wearing a NY Yankees cap. She explained she’d lost her hairbrush somewhere during a just-completed Australian sales trip and needed the cap to quell an unruly doo.  We weren’t overly fussed. This woman is such a legend she could have arrived in her jimjams and we wouldn’t have minded but it has to be said, the cap only reiterated her rockstar status in the eyes of our Pete who, it turns out, is a major Masters fanboy. 

It’s a valid ailment. Helen Masters and her wine continue to leave wine reviewers and wine collectors in awe. Her wines always rate extremely highly and the winery itself is lovingly revered as one of Aotearoa’s stalwarts. Ata Rangi has been around for 42 years now. In NZ wine dog years that’s a bloody long time so the star status is very real and Helen has been a very significant part of the brand’s history and current reputation. She did earn the title of Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year in 2019 and she’s just been shortlisted for the same title via American wine publication, Wine Enthusiast. There are countless other awards and high-scoring wines but that’s not why we’re here. We wanted to find out who she is. 

Global accolades and cool baseball cap notwithstanding, Helen is particularly down to earth. She loves her veggie garden. She enjoys a gin. She’s super relatable. 

We delighted in her stories of growing up as the youngest of 12 on a small farm on the Kapiti coast. She had us aghast with her unbelievable start to her wine story. At an age when most of us are out playing school sports, Helen was already thinking a career in winemaking might just be a jolly good idea. Her mother agreed, drove her over the Rimutakas and dropped her off at the gates of Ata Rangi, sans even a suitcase and was off back to Kapiti before Helen could change her mind. 

This really was a privilege to take time out and chat with this wonderful winemaker and truly lovely human. 

Pour yourself a gin and tonic (Helen would be pleased) and buckle up. This is the Not Serious Helen Masters chat. 

not serious wine chats would like to thank our supporters:
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Special thanks to my pal, Benj Brooking of Popular.nz for his help with the editing. An expert filmmaker, editing these chats is being done as one mate helping another. Thanks Benj. You're a legend.

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