When he rose to become chairman of Drayton’s 164-year-old wine operation he often reflected on the back-breaking nature of vineyard cultivation done by manpower and horse-drawn ploughs and deemed the company’s purchase of its first tractor in 1944 as a memorable advance.

Paradoxically, it was a tractor that almost cost Mr Drayton his life in 1959 when, while working in the vineyard, the tail of an old coat he was wearing caught in a tractor’s drive shaft and Mr Drayton was flung onto the ground. His left arm suffered a 25cm gash, most of the skin was torn from his back and a tangle of clothes around his neck threatened to choke him. Fortunately the old coat, made threadbare by long usage, gave way in time leaving Mr Drayton scarred, but alive.

The experience didn’t dim his enjoyment of vineyard work and his love of the Hunter wine country.

Last month he was still checking on things in the Oakey Creek Road, Pokolbin, vineyards and winery.

It was in the winery that he slipped and fell on November 16 and fractured his hip – an event that saw him spend his 86th birthday in Cessnock Hospital and ultimately cost him his life.

He is survived by Caroline, his wife of 65 years, whom he met 71 years ago when they were students at Cessnock High School – and to which he rode by horseback.

The pair had four sons John, a former high school teacher and now Drayton’s managing director, Trevor, the brilliant winemaker who was dux of his Roseworthy wine course, Greg Drayton, a Tocal Agricultural College graduate and Drayton’s vineyard manager, and Peter, a civil engineer, head of one of the Hunter’s largest commercial and industrial building companies and owner of Peter Drayton Wines.

The Draytons were shattered by the 2008 death of Trevor in a winery explosion. They have 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

In 2006 Max Drayton was awarded an Order of Australia Medal and in 2007 he was declared a Hunter Living Legend. His funeral will be held on Friday at 11.30am at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Cessnock.