History – Pioneer vintners

The Levet family from Ely, Cambridgeshire, were among the first Albertlanders to leave England. Charles, Kezeiah and their five children, Joseph, Charles, William, Frances and Emma were on the Hanover when it sailed on 29 May 1862, arriving in Auckland on 17 September. Charles was a coppersmith but had been reading about viticulture so decided to buy land and become a wine-maker.

Through emigration sponsors, Charles bought 180 acres of bush and scrub on the banks of the Whakapirau River, near Wellsford. With the help of his sons, he painstakingly cleared and cultivated the hilly site where their first seven acres were planted. Over time, they learned which grape varieties were most suitable and how to prune and care for them. They also had to learn how to make wine. With pit-sawn timber and planks they built a wine house and press. Meantime, the family lived by floating out kauri logs for sale, mill work and splitting kauri shingles for Auckland homes.

One major obstacle to a successful wine business was the fact that no hotels were allowed in the district because Albertlanders were mostly anti-alcohol, and licencing regulations meant wine was only allowed to be sold in hotels. The then MP for Rodney, Seymour George, took up their case in 1879 and two years later the law was amended to allow vineyard sales and the licencing of wine shops.

Levets rowed their barrels eight miles along Whakapirau tidal creek to Port Albert then shipped them to Onehunga and on to Israel Wendel’s wine bar in Karangahape Road, the country’s first licenced wine shop. By 1881, an amendment allowed wine makers to sell their wine in quantities of two gallons or more for consumption off the premises.

Governor Sir William Jervois was a regular customer during his term of office. An article about Levets in the the Auckland Star (November 5, 1964) quipped: ‘If the teetotal Albertlanders were shaken by the stacks of wine-cases on the Port Albert wharf addressed to Government House, Auckland, they must have been shattered when his successor, the Earl of Glasgow, allowed the Levets to call their property Lord Glasgow Vineyards, in his honour.’

Unfortunately, in 1905 Charles’ son William died, aged 56, and Charles passed away two years later at the age of 85. There was no-one left in the family old or experienced enough to carry on the business and some of the vines had phyloxera. Vineyards became pasture. The winepress was used for cheese-making and casks sold to Henderson winemaker Assid Corban. The labours of more than 40 years were over.

The Levet family name is immortalised as one of the Ls in the name Wellsford and descendants still live in the district. Historic Levet items housed in the Albertland Heritage Centre include their (very heavy) wine press screw and a 1872 viticulture textbook.

Sources: Levet Family History (by members of the Levet family) and Auckland Star.