The Profile: James Dicey

'Dicey' is eponymous of course, but also apt in a region where winegrowing is dicey, with spring snow, year-round frost risk, and the often-fraught business of working with nature. "It's about riskiness and unreliability and potential danger," says the viticulturist.

Eponymous, apt, and also somewhat ironic, given James' own risk averse journey to the wine industry, via a law degree and 10 years as a chartered accountant in New Zealand, Amsterdam and England, busily building a nest egg. "I always thought, looking at how much my parents struggled, that I would never be a farmer; not without equity behind me," says James.

Fortunately for Central Otago's wine industry, a cautiously circuitous route made James a steady and skilled set of hands when he eventually returned to New Zealand and became a force for the region's wine industry, as grape grower, viticulturist and advocate.

When the Central Otago Winegrowers Association (COWA) presented him with its highest award in August - for 'Outstanding Services to the Central Otago Wine Industry' - they talked of his support and representation of the industry at a local and national level over many years. James has put in "countless hours" to ensure the industry has been strongly represented on issues such as local signage policy and district plan changes, while also "relentlessly" campaigning to raise the awareness of spray drift risk to local vineyards. And over recent years there's been tireless work to help industry navigate the myriad challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. He has, they say, shown "outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment" to the industry.

James was seven years old in 1977, when his family arrived in New Zealand on a ship from South Africa with $250 to their name and a world of hard work ahead of them. His father Robin grew up in the winegrowing region of Tulbagh and had been actively farming since the age of 18, growing all manner of things, but "grapes were always his passion", says James. Robin trained in winemaking and viticulture at Stellenbosch University and was part of a medium-sized grape growing cooperative before his pioneering spirit, or "preparedness to take risks", promoted him to walk away from the farm says James, commenting dryly that the surname says it all.

On arrival in New Zealand, Robin became the first viticulturist for Corbans in Tolaga Bay, then leapt into the emerging business of kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty, planting his own orchard while helping others develop theirs. While in Katikati he helped plant Morton Estate's vineyards, which explains the Cape Dutch-style building, says James.

In the late 1980s the Dicey family was on a skiing holiday in Wānaka, when bad weather saw them trade the slopes for an outing on a hovercraft that plied the lake. They got as far as Rippon Vineyard when Robin insisted the vessel land on the shore, before strolling up the hill and introducing himself to Rolfe Mills, says James. "Rolfe is partially responsible for getting us down here."

Robin and Margie moved to Cromwell in 1992, when Central Otago's wine industry was nascent, and Robin became a key player in the development of the region's vineyards. There were his own projects, including Mt Difficulty, as well as developing and managing vineyards for many others. "He was basically doing what he did in the kiwifruit industry, which was helping people who had a interest in developing land but not the expertise to do it themselves", says James, noting that a "professional farmer" was just what the region needed. "In the mid-90s there were some passionate people and not a lot of experience around in Central Otago."

Meanwhile, James had already decided that farming was "a mug's game without money", and studied law and accounting at university, before joining Deloitte, becoming a chartered accountant and heading abroad. In 2000, he and his artist wife Odelle Morshuis bought a piece of Central Otago land, "by facsimile machine from Skagway, Alaska", and had Robin plant it in vines in 2002.

Two years later, when Odelle wanted to come home, James decided he had enough equity to join the family buisness Grape Vision Ltd, which Robin established in 1996. He began work with his father in 2004, then undertook the graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology at Lincoln University, before steadily taking on more of the vineyards. By 2009 Robin was ready to step back from the business and into his shed of cars and trailers; this is, the Dicey website reveals, a family of wine people and petrol heads. He still drives around the vineyards every Sunday to take a look, “and I call on him when I need him”, says James.

Grape Vision is not the only family farming business James jumped into. He and Matt, who was winemaker at Mt Difficulty until last year, established their own wine label Ceres in the early 2000s. There’s a lot in a name, and this one was for the Roman goddess of agriculture, worshipping the land the wines hailed from, as well as the town of Ceres, a hub for Tulbagh. It meant a lot to the brothers, but didn’t take in the market, says James, noting a difficulty in pronouncing it and confusion with an organic brand of the same name. So when Mt Difficulty sold in 2019, they sat down and “made the very difficult decision” to change their brand.

That meant a new name that gives a nod to full family ownership, and to the perilous nature of winegrowing. The brand design also pays homage to the hues of the region, with a palette devised by Odelle, from burnt orange and ochre to shadowed blues and greys, reflecting Central Otago across the seasons.

The Dicey website talks of James and the vines getting on well. “I have an opinion and I feel compelled to express it. Vines are the same.” That forthrightness – along with the “hugely valuable” skills learned in the corporate world – has yielded results for the region.

In 2006 he began a 15 year stretch on COWA, five of those as Chair (split over two stints) during which he initiated a restructure of the organisation. He has also represented at a national level, sitting on the New Zealand Winegrowers board for four years, and helping start Bragato Research Institute as a founding member.

At a barbecue a few years back, the Diceys worked out that between them they had owned, consulted on, or managed half the vineyards in Central Otago, from well-known brands to more obscure outfits. And over that time they’ve seen the region mature. “It’s a been a long slow hard process from a viticultural perspective… but we understand what we are doing a bit more now,” James says of the industry.

On being presented with the award from COWA, James said it had “been a privilege to have been able to contribute in a small way to the continued rise of Central Otago wine”. In the future he would like to see the region rely less on “Mother Marlborough” when it comes to selling its fruit, instead building strong Central Otago brands, and the reputation of the region as a premium producer. “With a bit of experience behind me I have realised that the wine game in Central Otago is a long one,” he says. “We are building something that future generations will reap the reward from and we will have the enjoyment and satisfaction from creating.”

Desert Island Wishlist

Wine - Te Arai Chenin Blanc

Meal - Ceviche

Album - Paul Oakenfeld - Tranceport

Book - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Stephen R. Donaldson