Gwyn Williams: 30 years of NZ wine sustainability

Gwyn has championed SWNZ in the vines and at the board table for decades, as a grower and viticultural contractor in Waipara, a member of the New Zealand Winegrowers Sustainability Committee for nearly 20 years, and chair of the Sustainable Winegrowing Technical Group for the past decade. Sustainability needs to be a “direction, not an end point”, he told attendees at the NZW Romeo Bragato National Conference in 2014. “Without it our reputation is in jeopardy.” A decade on, that sentiment is truer than ever, he says.

Gwyn, who didn’t plan to start a viticulture career 40 years ago, but “went along for the ride”, has been named a 2025 NZW Fellow, recognising his services to sustainability. He has also been a stubborn stalwart for Waipara’s wine industry, since becoming the inaugural president of Waipara Winegrowers in 1993. The members of the local organisation have always passionately believed in the product and potential of the region, he says, noting that it’s not easy getting traction in such a small region, “but all these smaller players across the country bring a flavour to the industry, and a uniqueness”.

In some ways, Gwyn’s successful wine career began in 1971, when he joined the army, signing up for an eight-year stint after finishing college. The career included a year at Officer Cadet School in Australia, then postings to Waiouru, Papakura, Dunedin and Burnham, along with exercises overseas. It proved a “remarkable” place for his education, leadership and life skills, all of which have stood him in good stead in vineyards and at board tables.

When his contracted period ended in 1979, he was tempted to stay, but instead got a truck driving job, worked in inventory for a harvesting company, then as a labourer on a mixed cropping farm in mid Canterbury for two years. In 1982 he went to Lincoln College and completed diplomas in agriculture and farm management, before a friend helped him get a job in Burnham. “I ended up right out of the blue going straight to a vineyard.” The owners, who were professionals, had about 40 hectares of land, and were developing 6ha of it into vines, with an even split of Müller-Thurgau and Pinot Gris, and a little bit of Golden Chasselas. Looking back, he laughs at how green he was when it came to grape growing. “I said, jeez, there are a hell of a lot of posts. Where are the grape vines? They pointed out to me that they were these small little sticks in the ground.”

It was a case of “LOTJ – learn on the job”, Gwyn says. He was helped by vineyard spray supplier Jim Grierson, who took him up to Blenheim to meet the Corbans Wines crew, including viticulturist Peter Masters and Allan Scott, who would go on to establish his own eponymous wine label. “Those three guys basically led me down the path of what to do and how to do it with viticulture… They were all very helpful, and things developed from there.”

Over the years Gwyn’s eyes were drawn to Waipara, where plantings had started from 1981, and three vineyards were supplying Corbans. He started to do some pruning work there, under Allan Scott’s direction, and found that while the cool Canterbury vineyard and its warmer Waipara neighbour were relatively close as the crow flies, they were night and day in terms of fruit. “I can remember quite clearly we hadn’t harvested our Müller-Thurgau, and Waipara were done with Chardonnay.”

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The owners of the Burnham block decided to give up the vineyard in 1992 and introduced Gwyn to someone looking to establish a vineyard in North Canterbury. “We packed up our bags and went there, and that business became Muddy Waters.” He learned a lot from fellow growers in the region, and from attending field days in Blenheim, still LOTJ. After nearly a decade at Muddy Waters, Gwyn realised he had knowledge and skills others wanted to tap into, so established his own business, Vinecare Ltd. “We helped plan, develop, plant and manage vineyards, as well as supply what services were needed to care for them. It was interesting to see the performance of varying varieties given differences in soil, and vineyard sites, and the management techniques across the region.” As well as helping others, he owned three vineyards over the years, the last one being a Pinot Noir block on the north facing Omihi Hills. Meanwhile, he jumped into industry organisations, leaning on the leadership skills first taught him in the army

Soon after moving to Waipara, Gwyn became interested in creating a new distinct region separate from Canterbury, recognising its unique microclimate. They were initially told to bury their differences and get on with the Canterbury Association, but in 1993 Waipara Winegrowers was born, with Gwyn as president through to 2002, then a committee member to 2008. He went on to become the winegrowers’ representative on the Hurunui Tourism Board from 1999 to 2012, and the South Island minor regions representative on the NZW board from 2008 to 2016, including participation in several working groups.

“Sustainability started to become a much bigger work area in the industry,” says Gwyn, who was on the sustainability committee for several years before becoming chair from 2014 to 2016, overseeing important changes in the SWNZ programme. He continues to sit on the Environment Committee, and since leaving the board in 2016 has served as chair of the Sustainable Winegrowing Technical Group, with that role ending in June this year, with the completion of the technical phase of the Freshwater Farm Plan project.

Looking back at his time going “along for the ride”, Gwyn describes his career, and Waipara’s development, as “bloody lucky” from a timing point of view. “It was always growing, always learning. We were doing some things right and getting some things wrong and fixing them. Like a child growing up. We were prepared to foster that, to work with it; run with it.” He remains grateful to all the people who have helped him LOTJ over the past four decades. There are plenty of challenges, but “vision passion and belief has been foremost in building the industry” Gwyn says. “It’s been a great experience. I wish you all good luck and good fortune.”