Farewell, founding father

Last week's announcement that the French-owned wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard was selling off its Gisborne winery, Hawke's Bay vineyards, the hugely successful Lindauer sparkling wine brand and another 11 minor brands to the Asian brewer Lion Nathan may have been just another shuffling of the pack at global boardroom level, but it has left stalwarts of the New Zealand wine industry feeling distinctly unsettled.

Pernod Ricard acquired Montana, by far the dominant winery in New Zealand and the one that, with Cloudy Bay, built the reputation of the entire national wine industry, back in 2005. But Montana was...