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‘This is not another Villa Maria’: how one of NZ’s biggest wine figures started again
Two years ago, Villa Maria founder Sir George Fistonich launched new winery project Čuvar, now run by his eldest daughter. Sarah Neish finds out why this boutique operation is worlds apart from the global wine giant.
Sir George Fistonich was just 21 years old when he founded eponymous New Zealand wine brand Villa Maria in 1961. Initially intending to become a professional carpenter, he ended up leasing five acres of land from his Croatian father on which to grow grapes, and the rest as they say, is history.
Today, Villa Maria is a household name and the business worth upwards of $200 million.
In 2021, as the brand closed in on its 60th birthday, rumours began to surface that Villa Maria was looking to sell-up, and that New Zealand’s largest apple producer, Scales Corporation, was in the running to take over the business. The apple grower allegedly put in a bid to buy the company, but was pipped to the post by Indevin, who snapped up the brand later that same year.
New start
Having offloaded Villa Maria, the star player of the Fistonich Family Vineyards business, all eyes were on what Sir George would do next. Would he ride off into the sunset to enjoy his retirement back in his suburban Auckland home, or forge ahead with a new project? It turned out he’d been making moves in the background for some time, and in 2023 he launched the boutique Čuvar Winery “after years of planning”. Last year, as part of a long-standing succession plan, he handed over the reins to his daughter Karen, a former chairperson on the board of Villa Maria, to take the operation forward.
With the lion’s share of its vineyards located in Hawke’s Bay, rather than in Villa Maria’s heartland Marlborough, and a focus on premium Chardonnay rather than Sauvignon Blanc, Čuvar was set to be different from the offset. Producing fewer than 10,000 cases per year, compared to Villa Maria’s 2.5 million, and with its eyes set firmly on the on-trade, fine wine merchants, and independent retailers, Čuvar was always going to be a detour from the Fistonich family’s usual modus operandi.
Although Sir George’s craftsmanship and care “has guided us for decades”, marketing manager Ali Sundstrum tells db, “Čuvar is intentionally different—a boutique-sized business with a single-minded focus on quality.”
Villa Maria, she says, was “more about the grocery sector and big markets, while Čuvar is committed to elevating Hawke’s Bay’s fine wine story.”
Chardonnay pillar
For this reason, the brand has chosen to pour its interest into Chardonnay. Its first commercial release was a single-varietal wine made from this white grape from the 2020 vintage.
“Chardonnay offers the greatest potential, combining strong consumer demand with Hawke’s Bay’s ability to produce world-class expressions,” says Čuvar CEO Karen Fistonich, whose husband is Milan Brajkovich of New Zealand’s Kumeu River Wines family.
Bottle prices reflect this direction, with Čuvar’s Chardonnays priced at around NZ$45 (£19.80), with its “lower tier” wines sitting at around NZ$25 (£11).
Protagonists of change
Calling themselves “protagonists of positive change”, the Čuvar team aims to turn New Zealand’s fine wine offering on its head. But it has a bit of housekeeping to take care of first as consultant winemaker Michelle Richardson is leaving to pursue her own project following Čuvar’s 2025 vintage. The rest of the winemaking team, however, remains firmly in place, including viticulturist Odette Preston, who formerly worked for Villa Maria, and Dave Mackintosh, who co-founded his own wine label Arfion in Australia’s Yarra Valley in 2011, expressing a need “to be hands on, and free to take risks.”
Speaking exclusively to db, Karen Fistonich describes Čuvar’s style as “contemporary-classic Hawke’s Bay wines that speak of balance, structure, and subtlety.”
“Never heavy-handed or over-extracted, we follow the vineyard’s cues, working to build on its strengths, and respecting the character of the fruit, rather than imposing our will upon it,” she adds.
The wines available in market now are predominantly from the 2023 vintage, alongside some bottle-aged wines from 2020 and 2021, but Mackintosh is “super excited “about the Chardonnay fruit from this year. “2025 is looking amazing, the acids are holding well with beautiful citrus and white nectarine notes coming through, and great balance across our vineyards sites in Hawke’s Bay,” he says.
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These vineyard sites span a total of 100ha ranging from the world-famous Gimblett Gravels to Čuvar’s recently acquired Te Hau Matapiro in Crownthorpe. However, the business does have some Marlborough plantings in its back pocket, comprised of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, in the Awatere Valley. Last year Čuvar also added Stonecroft, a tiny Hawke’s Bay winery, to its holdings.
Legacy and learnings
Despite Čuvar’s determination to forge its own path, it would be lunacy for the new business to ignore the legacy and learnings of Villa Maria, so it’s little surprise that echoes of its alma mata chime softly throughout the company.
Some of Čuvar’s vineyards, including Cornerstone in the Gimblett Gravels and the winery’s home block in Bayview, were previously “admired fruit sources” for Villa Maria, which produces three Hawke’s Bay reds, and a Chardonnay as part of its portfolio. But the fruit from these former Villa Maria vineyards is now “exclusively used by Čuvar”, confirms Sundstrom.
The brand is also tapping into Villa Maria’s existing distribution network in some key markets.
“We’re excited to continue working with Kinoshita in Japan, a former Villa Maria distributor that took on Čuvar in 2024,” says Karen. “However, in Singapore, we secured a new partnership with Little Farms, a premium retail chain, completely unrelated to Villa Maria. Rather than simply leveraging former relationships, we target distributors with a gap in their portfolio for premium Hawke’s Bay wines.”
The brand is actively seeking distribution in other international markets for 2025 and beyond.
“Karen spent 28 years working alongside her father and Villa Maria, so brings deep industry knowledge,” says Sundstrum. “One of the key learnings we carry forward is a vineyard-first approach, recognising that great wines start in the vineyard.”
Rosy future
Čuvar also hopes to put premium Hawke’s Bay rosé on the map through its 100% Cabernet Franc expression. Priced at NZ$33.99 (£15) the 2023 Cornerstone Vineyard Rosé from the Guardians Collection has “a bouquet of pink peppercorns and creaming soda”, according to viticulturist Preston, “and might just be the best rosé I’ve tried.”
“While our primary mission is to champion Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay, we love rosé and see it as a perfect wine for the New Zealand lifestyle,” says Karen Fistonich, who spotted potential in the domestic market because “New Zealanders already love French rosé”.
A second Čuvar rosé named Iris comprises 20% Pinot Noir and 80% Syrah, and is priced at NZ$24.99 (£11).
Vineyards are currently farmed conventionally, though Čuvar isn’t ruling out a future in organics. “For now, our focus is on vine health and sustainable practices,” says Karen Fistonich. “But we remain open to organic certification in the future.”
Čuvar is 100% Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand accredited and the winery itself was designed to be a Green Star-rated building. Green Star aims to transform the way that commercial buildings are designed and built in order to “dramatically reduce” carbon footprint.
Moving forward, there are murmurings of Čuvar growing its culinary offering at its winery in Bayview, Napier, and an old face might have a hand to play here.
“Sharing food and wine with people is in my blood,” Sir George Fistonich said. “I opened New Zealand’s first winery restaurant, Vidals, in 1979 and am excited to be creating another Hawke’s Bay wine and food destination with Čuvar Winery.”
You can take the man out of the wine business but you can’t take the wine business out of the man.
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