Father, tractor driver, pruner, financier, golfer and all-round hard grafter. That’s my dad.
Coming home
Dad was born and raised in Christchurch. In his early twenties he moved to Wellington, where he met and married Mum, Felicity, and started our family. He spent the bulk of his career in the wine and spirit trade, thirty years in all, living in the North Island. The whole time, he was carrying around a passion for growing and making wine himself.
In 1995 he decided it was time. He brought the family back to his home province of Canterbury and set out to build a vineyard of his own.
From a bare block of land
Dunnolly Estate started as a bare block of land in the Waipara Valley. We named it after the family villa, Dunnolly. With a lot of hard graft, Dad turned that land into a flourishing vineyard, learning and adapting all the way as the industry around him grew up.
He was always hands-on. If a job needed doing in the vineyard, he was the one doing it, and that same care is what we still ask of the growers we work with today.
A family of winemakers
I grew up watching Dad in the vineyard, and I started pruning vines on the estate during my uni holidays. I never really left. Today I’m the winemaker, and my brother Matt, a winemaker overseas, supports us as an advisor. Between us, our family has 122 years of winemaking experience.
These days Dad is a committed golfer, but he still stays close to the business.
Taste what Dad started with our Pinot Noir, the grape that started it all.
Cheers,
Nicky
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