The Profile: James Healy
"The Marlborough wine industry has been extremely kind to me," says James Healy, 32 years after he pulled up in an iridescent green Holden Premier packed with his family and belongings.
Food and wine go hand in hand, and that was certainly the case for Dad's move into wine. The seed of 'winemaking' as a career was planted by one of his favourite lecturers at Otago University in the mid-1970s. Hailing from England, this lecturer offered colleagues and senior students evenings full of food and European wines - along with great depth of wine knowledge. This was a rare thing in New Zealand in those days, and these gatherings of likeminded 'foodies' captivated Dad.
After graduating with a degree in biochemistry, he propositioned Villa Maria and Corbans to hire him as a cellar hand. But he was offered the job that was actually being advertised - in the laboratory at the Corban's winery in West Auckland. On this basis, my parents - who had met while both studying in Dunedin - moved up into the Waitakere Ranges. The late 70s and 80s were where Dad got into learning as much as he could about wine, and Mum (Wendy) got busy with us four children. These days for our family were very free, and not particularly connected with wine at all, growing up in an old bach surrounded by New Zealand bush.
There wasn't any winemaking education offered in New Zealand at that time - Corban's gave Dad time off and paid for his study via Charles Sturt in New South Wales. He never completed this course, and has always stood by his mantra that he "learned how to make wine by drinking wine". He was also very active on the wine judging scene at the time.
Dad's role at Corban's had progressed by the late 1980s, and he had met most of the other players in New Zealand wine, as it was such a tiny industry at that time. Kevin Judd needed help at the growing Cloudy Bay and, after a few informal conversations including with (Cloudy Bay founder) David Hohnen, Mum and Dad decided to move to Marlborough for him to take up a winemaking job. It was a small team, and the job was exciting and all consuming. I think being in a pioneering industry was really exciting to Dad. Professionally, he said ‘yes’ to everything – which meant he was away from home a lot. When he was home he would lead us in wine tastings out of tiny port glasses. He would also cook fantastic laborious meals for special occasions, or because he’d had something amazing on a work trip he just had to recreate at home. I remember a lot of dinner parties, which also suited my Dad’s really social personality.
During the late 90s, while Cloudy Bay, along with New Zealand wine, was growing at lightening pace, Dad and Ivan Sutherland – the viticulturist for Cloudy Bay – formed a strong friendship. Based on this, and an acknowledgment of shared strengths, they started the Dog Point story. In the early 2000s – around the time my siblings and I all began finishing school and moving out into the world – Dog Point celebrated their first vintage. Dad and Ivan worked tirelessly building the business over the next decade, and we would mostly see Dad on work trips that happened to bring him to wherever we were living at the time!
For better or worse, I’m the only one who has followed my parents into this industry – the rest of my siblings have followed their passions into music, teaching, and medicine. This was an accidental move on my part while living in Melbourne, but was cemented when I met my now husband – Mark McGill. He was a recently graduated winemaker, and so we have held fast in the industry!
With our two young daughters, we moved back from Melbourne and into Mum and Dad’s house in Marlborough. From there we all looked together for the ‘right spot’ in the clays of the Moutere Hills to embark on our shared Chardonnay project. Mark and I had already started making proper cider; fortunately Chardonnay vines and apple trees appreciate the same soils. Dad had already been instrumental in shaping wines for two iconic brands, and our project – Abel – which started in 2016, was a low key and more experimental ‘retirement’ project for him. Dad also enjoyed being intricately involved in the full cycle of small scale winemaking – from planting and tending the vines to driving the grapes to the winery
We have been so humbled by how many people Dad touched in his life, from all corners of the globe. As well as being an interesting and passionate winemaker, he was a wonderful friend, colleague, and mentor.
