There’s not much that veteran, award-winning Central Otago winegrower, viticulturist and co-founder of Mt Difficulty Wines Robin Dicey hasn’t had a go at in his 82 years.

South African-born Robin is always up for an adventure, and a good laugh.

From driving his ute through far-flung outer Mongolia across Russia, China, Southeast Asia, South and North America, to part-building and crashing his own aircraft and engineering 70 trailers from tiny to large, Robin epitomises ‘can do’.

Born in Ceres, near Cape Town, South Africa, Robin ran the family farm for 20 years.

His upbringing emulates the story depicted in international bestselling novel ‘The Power of One’.

“As a kid my African nanny had the peculiar habit of taking me to the stables where our mules and horses were, lighting a fire on the haystack and sweeping it off with a stick,” Robin said. 

“I was about six and wished I could do that, so I did, but I burnt a huge haystack down. Nanny got fired.”

Robin circa 1948.

His education started at the local village school aged six. 

The post Anglo-Boer War influence was still rife, and Afrikaans ruled at the school. 

“The older boys chucked me in a concrete silo because I was English. It was pitch black,” Robin said. 

“But I soon became a hero.” 

Boils and field sores were also rife, so the government fed a compulsory teaspoon of cod liver oil to the kids each day, “the most revolting stuff”. 

“There was no way my mother was giving me a silver teaspoon to take so she gave me a tiny plastic spoon that held one drop of oil. That spoon got passed by my classmates right to the back of the queue and they never threw me in the silo again,” Robin said. 

When he was eight he was sent to boarding school in Cape Town. After school he completed a diploma in winemaking and grape growing at Stellenbosch University, and in 1969 he married Margie. 

Robin used to grow table grapes in South Africa.

The lure of adventure was too much for them so in 1977 they emigrated by ship to New Zealand, three kids in tow, where Robin started out as a viticulturist for Corbans Wines at Tolaga Bay, near Gisborne.

In 1980 Robin set up a kiwifruit orchard in Katikati, and in 1981 he developed Morton Estate Winery for owner Morton Brown, leaving his South African Cape Dutch design stamped on that now famous wine label.

Robin got back into viticulture when he discovered that “grapes grew quite well” in Central Otago during a Wānaka ski holiday in 1988. 

“We went on a hovercraft ride, and I hopped off when we saw Rippon Vineyard and met Rolf Mills,” Robin said. 

“We returned in 1990 when we became a bit more serious. I’d researched the climate, soils and history. We decided this could be a life for us.

“We hired a house, went skiing and bought this property in Felton Road, Bannockburn, unconditionally within 24 hours. It was pretty scary. We thought, ‘Now we’re in trouble! How do we find the money?’”

Back in Katikati Robin started a grapevine nursery, bringing the plants south in 1992 when they developed the vineyard and built their house.

Funds were needed so Robin sold his skills to Otago Polytech as a lecturer at its Cromwell campus, starting its first week-long viticulture course. 

“I told the Polytech manager, ‘In five years wine is going to be bigger than any of the current crops here in Central, so you really need to run a viticulture course’. 

“I’d been prepared to be a forecourt attendant if I had to but people started approaching me to plant their vineyards, so I became a vineyard establishment manager.” 

He planted 40 or 50 vineyards from Gibbston to the Cromwell basin, Bendigo and Wānaka. 

“I had a big team, and we’d plant nine or 10 vineyards in a year.”

Before long he and Margie were starting their own winery with the owners of four of the vineyards that Robin had planted, launching Mt Difficulty Wines in 1998.

Armed with experience in the “three essential aspects” (producing grapes, processing and making wine, and selling it) - all the partners having completed Robin’s course, the fun began.

Son Matt was completing a chemistry degree at Canterbury University and was home visiting when Ann Pinckney, an early winegrowing pioneer, came for dinner. 

“Matt went back to uni and signed up for a Masters in Wine Technology at Lincoln.”

After graduating Matt gained experience as a winemaker in South Africa, Italy and Oregon before becoming the winemaker for Mt Difficulty. 

“The four partners brought name ideas and sat down with our suitable glasses of an appropriate libation and made a decision,” Robin said.

He and Margie suggested ‘Mt Difficulty’, reflecting the challenges early Wakatipu pioneer William Rees faced negotiating it with a mob of sheep.

Ally Mondillo designed the label and before long they were building a winery restaurant with just “a bit of topographical adjustment”, running an architectural competition for that design.

There were no arguments. It was all “fun, fun, fun”, Robin said.

“An argument is like throwing sand in a bearing. What happens is you put lubrication – lemonade, in it. It was only lemonade,” he said.

They’ve never had a total crop loss due to frost or disease in what have been reliable grape growing conditions. 

“We never lost more than 15 percent. We fought frost hard, sometimes using ‘Choppy’ Patterson (helicopter pilot). They now have frost machines.”

A recent photo of Robin in Costa Rica.

Mt Difficulty went on to win many awards, including the New Zealand Grape Growers Council’s ‘Best Pinot Noir’ in 2004. Robin served on the NZ Council for five years and chaired the Central Otago one for six. 

He won the Central Otago Enterprise Award in 2002 and a Lincoln University medal for helping students on field trips.

“An American came and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse for Mt Difficulty in 2018, so Matt and our other son, James, both in the industry, went out on their own, starting Dicey Wines, and our family built another winery in Bannockburn.”

James qualified in law and accountancy but missed farming so took a post-grad qualification at Lincoln. He’s since taken over the vineyard establishment and management company from Robin.

Robin, while ‘retired’, still works nearly fulltime, mostly in his workshop. 

“I’m ‘cheap design engineer’. I can build anything for no pay,” he said. 

But there’s still time for tennis three times a week and Pickleball, which he started in Cromwell.

Forever passionate about wine, he’s a Life Member of the NZ Grape Growers Council. 

“That’s a big honour and it’s been an absolute delight with both my boys in the industry.”

Photos: Supplied

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