North Canterbury, New Zealand (2) Dancing Water, a newcomer
Website: www.dww.co.nz
It’s always great to visit new producers, and this was the first time I’d visited Dancing Water.
It’s my first full day in North Canterbury. The day begins as light begins to dissolve the darkness, and I see it all from my bed in the off-grid wood cabin with no curtains as well as no power. I get up and walk around a bit. I make coffee on the camp stove. I bathe in the outdoor tub. I write a bit and in this setting words come easily. The birdsong is loud. Cacophonous but soothing.
Shortly before 9 am I head out for the first appointment, at a producer new to me. Dancing Water is the project of Kim Schofield and her husband. They bought one of the region’s legacy vineyards, a 4 hectare block on 10 hectares of land planted originally in 1981, and this is a new project with the first wines being made in 2019.
They initially saw the vineyard as an investment, but Kim is now hooked, and has transferred her considerable energy and skills to this project. She makes five rosés, including one fashioned by Matt Connell in Central Otago, as well as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of distinction. She’s nervous receiving a journalist from abroad, but she needn’t be: these are really good wines and the project is progressing well.
‘In 2017 when we brought it, it was completely run down,’ says Kim. ‘The weeds were higher than the vines.’
The vineyard was first planted in 1982, by Derek Quigley, who was a National Party MP. It was on a 265 acre farm, part of which is now Greystone and Mountford. When Quigley planted this vineyard he was part of the Waipara grape growing collective, a pioneering group looking to see what could successfully be done here.
Kim says that these are the oldest living dry grown, ungrafted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines in the country. ‘How cool is that?’ They didn’t know this at the time. ‘My background is corporate, but I grew up in semi-rural settings, so I knew enough to buy a vineyard.’
They bought the property in 2017, and there was no harvest until 2019. ‘We had a great year,’ she says. ‘We made one barrel.’
Most of the wines are made by Dom Maxwell at Greystone, and the labels are designed by NZ artist Michell Reid. The third vintage here, 2022, wasn’t a good one, and they didn’t make any Pinot or Chardonnay, but sold it off in bulk. This is the commitment to quality.
I asked Kim what prompted them to buy the vineyard. ‘The true story is that we thought it was an investment from a property point of view.’ Then Covid came along and they had the 2019 Pinot came out. Her commercial career was struggling and so she thought she should invest more time in the vineyard and sell some wine. She posted on facebook. ‘I’d been giving all my friends free wine, and originally I thought we were just going to make wine for our friends. Not in a pretentious kind of way. But as an investment. But the best part is that we realized that the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are off the richter in terms of quality and complexity. So we decided we’d invest in this. I put the post up on facebook and one friend bought a boot load of wine, and then another friend did it, and another friend did it.’ Their business was driven by friends and friends of friends buying wine during Covid.
They came up with a direct sales model to fund the restoration of the vineyard. While Kim is making some serious Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, it’s rosé that’s making the biggest splash in the market. ‘I want to make a change to the New Zealand rosé market,’ she says. ‘I want to set the bar higher. I have 5 rosé wines and they sell out every year.’
‘We didn’t have enough here so I sourced fruit out of Central Otago. Mat Connell makes the Blanc de Noir for me. It costs NZ5000 a ton but I sell it for $25 direct.’
THE WINES
Dancing Water Blanc de Noir 2024 Central Otago, New Zealand
14% alcohol. Abel clone. Made by Matt Connell, this retails at $32. Complex nose with some lovely spicy detail and a bit of flint and mineral. The palate is beautifully textured, with some richness and depth, showing pear and cherry as well as a touch of lime, and then finishing with good acidity, and a tapering finish that stays fresh. Mouthfilling and attractive, but showing nice depth and more than a hint of complexity. 93/100
Dancing Water Georgie Diamanté Rosé 2024 North Canterbury, New Zealand
13% alcohol. Scheurebe, coloured by using Pinot Noir. Attractively packaged with a label by artist Chloe Summerhayes. Fresh and floral on the nose with some strawberry and cherry fruit and a hint of grapiness. The palate is bright and alert with good acidity and a juicy quality, showing pear and citrus fruit. This is really attractive. 93/100
Dancing Water Chardonnay 2019 North Canterbury, New Zealand
13.5% alcohol. This was made at Mountford Estate. This is powerful and intense with bold lemon and peach fruit, as well as some spicy, nutty character and a touch of pineapple, finishing with a nice bitter twist. Such intensity here with palate weight as well as sweet fruit, but with the acidity and the nice bitter twist giving a lovely foil. This is serious stuff. 94/100
Dancing Water Chardonnay 2023 North Canterbury, New Zealand
14% alcohol. This is made by Dom Maxwell. Very refined aromatics with some subtle toast and spice as well as ripe peach fruit. The palate is generous and textural with good concentration and intensity, initially coming across soft and luxurious with pear and melon fruit, but then building with some citrus and yellow plum, as well as well integrated oak. Smooth and concentrated with lovely intensity. 94/100
Dancing Water Pinot Noir 2019 Waipara, New Zealand
13.7% alcohol. Made at Mountford. This is smooth, silky and textural with really appealing sweet cherry and plum fruit with just a hint of spicy bite and the first signs of development towards a mellow middle age. Real finesse and balance here, with freshness to balance the lush fruit, and finishing with a touch of sour cherry. Impressive. 93/100
Dancing Water Pinot Noir 2023 North Canterbury, New Zealand
14% alcohol. Made by Dom Maxwell. This has lovely balance with sweet, almost lush strawberry and cherry fruit and then some nice acidity and a twist of sour cherry on the finish. Lovely balance and intensity here with good structure countering the fruit. Has nice energy and drive but also finesse and texture. 94/100
Dancing Water Pinot Noir 2021 North Canterbury, New Zealand
Simon Nunns made this at Mountford, and it was finished off by Greystone when Mountford was sold during COVID. Under cork. This is ripe and textural with a concentrated core of sweet cherry and raspberry fruit as well as some wild strawberry. This has lovely density and fruit intensity, and potential for further ageing. Serious effort. 95/100
