Named with a nod to the ancient coal seam running through the nearby mountain range, multi-award-winning Coal Pit Vineyard springs from schist soils on north-facing slopes in Gibbston, Central Otago’s highest sub-region and producer of some of the world’s finest pinot noir.
Coal Pit has bolstered that reputation thanks to the vision and passion of owner Rosie Dunphy who, along with her close-knit team, is not just looking to produce the finest of wines, but to create a legacy.
“We made our first vintage on site in 2007,” Rosie tells Verve. “It was a crazy time – we didn’t even have a roof or sides on the building, just the equipment. My winemaker was also heavily pregnant, and the destemmer wasn’t working properly so I had friends helping me wrap it with Glad Wrap which we poked holes in! It was a real home industry. It was madness! Regardless, the grapes were such great quality that we won numerous awards that year with the wine.”
Rosie, who has a background in viticulture having studied at Sydney’s Ryde School of Horticulture, and Plumpton College in the UK, purchased the property in 2001. She’d realised she wanted to grow grapes following a visit to the Hunter Valley. “We were sitting amongst the vineyards having drinks and I was looking at these fabulous vines when it just dawned on me that I wanted to grow the very best grapes possible. But I never thought about making wine.”
While living in Ireland, Rosie received a call from her brother-in-law advising her that the Coal Pit site was up for sale and that she should buy it without hesitation.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have had so many good people advising me throughout the process. Alan Brady, who’s the godfather of Central Otago wines, mentored me and ended up making some of his wine at our place.”
For the first few years, Rosie and her team simply grew the grapes to sell.
“These days, the price of grapes is phenomenal, but back then, you didn’t get much money for them. We were putting so much time and energy into creating the best grapes that we could, then they would sit in big bins at the end of the rows waiting to be collected. I would see all the juice dripping out, and the bees coming in, just thinking about how we were losing all the freshness. So, we decided to build our own winery.”
The team you’ve assembled is predominantly women – was this a deliberate choice?
“Not really, they just happened to be the best people for the job. It’s a tiny winery and such an easy and beautiful environment to work in. The winemaker, Anika, lives on-site, and is becoming more and more involved with the viticultural element with a view to eventually managing both the vineyard and the winemaking operations. But one of my sons, Hugo, is just starting to get heavily involved too, so it’s not like we’re trying to keep the men out!”
“This project is my baby, and it’s not just about making the best wines possible but protecting and improving the land, the soil.”
Is it a heavily patriarchal industry, and if so, are things improving?
“Twenty years ago it was very unusual for a woman to own a vineyard. But things have changed and over the past 10 years many fabulous female winemakers and vineyard owners have emerged. I’m not a particularly comfortable public speaker, and generally a lot of the guys are better at being heard so I would like to see more women in the industry have a voice. Actually, all the women working for me are strong, independent women with a deep understanding and knowledge of wine and the industry which is, of course, the reason I chose them. Anika has worked as a winemaker all over the world and is an excellent ambassador for the industry, as is Kate, our sales and marketing manager who has her Master’s in Oenology and was a winemaker at Te Mata.”
Rosie emphasises the importance of the vineyard being a family business, her vision being that it will one day be run by her grandchildren who are currently lending their names to Coal Pit vintages (while the Tiwha Pinot Noir is named in tribute to Rosie’s late father), all adorned by labels created by cultural artist Chris Heaphy, inspired by indigenous iconography. In the meantime, Rosie says she’s simply serving as a guardian of the land.
“I’ve been blessed to have some amazing people help me, and I guess I just had the energy to pull it all together.”
“I know it sounds a little corny, but I firmly believe in kaitiakitanga (guardianship). This project is my baby, and it’s not just about making the best wines possible but protecting and improving the land, the soil. There are beautiful trees everywhere, many of them are registered, which is very unusual for Central Otago.”
Soon to be certified organic, Coal Pit has been recognised internationally for its environmental practices, most recently at the 2020 International Wine Challenge where their 2018 Tiwha Pinot Noir won Sustainable and New Zealand Red trophies.
“We’ve started doing inter-row plantings with edibles such as turnips and different other things which we hope to sell. We’ve got bees on the vineyard and this year will plant around one thousand native plants.”
While big name NZ labels churn out hundreds of thousands of cases of wine each year, Rosie is content to keep Coal Pit boutique and small batch, capped at around five thousand.
“It’s all about producing the best quality, and this just gives us so much more control,” she says. “When we started out 20-odd years ago with this romantic dream – one that actually requires a hell of a lot of hard work! – I never envisioned that we would be producing wines of such great quality. But I can’t take the credit for that, I’m not the expert. I’ve been blessed to have some amazing people help me, and I guess I just had the energy to pull it all together.”
Words — Jamie Christian Desplaces
