Dick Scott: Pioneers of New Zealand Wine

By JOELLE THOMSON*

When author Dick Scott knew a visit to Gisborne winemaker Antonio Zame was on the agenda, he timed the trip as early as possible in the morning so that he and photographer Marti Friedlander could avoid tasting many, or any, of Zame's wines. In their desire to give these less-than-exemplary wines the swerve, the author facilitated and the photographer captured one of the most stunning photographs of the New Zealand wine industry last century.

It is such an evocative image, lit entirely by natural early-morning light, that it takes pride of place in Pioneers of New Zealand Wine: on the cover.

Friedlander had been in New Zealand for only six years when she began photographing the characters in the country's wine industry.

And it is her astonishing ability to capture her subjects off-guard that gives this book its prime appeal. But peel back the layers of these brilliant images and Scott's meticulous research and sympathetically well-written text makes the book hard to put down.

The title Pioneers of New Zealand Wine is in deference to the booming New Zealand wine scene today.

It is an apt recognition that the industry has moved on significantly from the so-called port and sherry-wine industry of the 1960s, when he penned the earlier version of this book, Winemakers of New Zealand (1964). The text in this new edition is identical to the earlier version but the layout and packaging are new.

Scott's passion for wine had its impetus in the 1940s when, as an adolescent growing up in Palmerston North, he used to hang out at a cafe run by Yugoslav immigrants who spoke broken English and were looked down on by New Zealanders at the time.

"These Dalmatians had this view of drink and they were going to stick with it, but New Zealanders at the time just thought of them as odd, foreign, nutcase people who didn't drink beer. It made me want to be political for them."

This book is the result of his admiration for their courage and determination. In detailed and accessible prose Scott tells the story of the people behind the household wine names, including German-born Friedrich Wohnsiedler, who changed profession from butcher to winemaker when Germanic-styled sausage was no longer in vogue post-World War I.

It is also the story of the evolution of New Zealand wine culture from the first-planted grapes in Northland by James Busby through Prohibition, phylloxera and the influence of the one-time, forward-thinking government viticulturist Romeo Bragato and beyond.

Scott started his working life as a share-milker before becoming a historian and journalist.

He pioneered the country's first regular wine publication, Wine Review, which he published from 1964 to 1978, and as well as several other books, wrote the seminal Ask That Mountain: The Story Of Parihaka.

This book is a fascinating historical record, rich with glimpses into what made the people who started making wine here tick. It details how, slowly but surely, the fruits of their labours began to gain acceptance.

Readers will find it poignant that the image Scott selected for the cover was chosen solely for aesthetic reasons. It is a very un-politically correct shot, he notes.

There are so many better winemakers featured in the book than Antonio Zame but that image possesses the most amazing qualities.

Rather like the people Scott has written about here, really.

Photography by Marti Friedlander

Reed

$54.95

* Joelle Thomson is Viva's wine writer.