Steve Davies, grower & winemaker
Steve Davies is the hands on grower and winemaker of Doctors Flat Pinot Noir. He brings to his carefully chosen site over 20 years of training and international experience with some great wine producers.
With that come his persistence, integrity, curiosity and a canny mix of the pragmatic and the philosophical. His commitment to making what he calls “worthy wine” is considerable. There will be no compromises.
Most recently winemaker at Carrick and consultant to Wild Earth, Steve has also made wine for Akarua and Alan Scott, as well as a number of other New Zealand wineries. The foundation of his winemaking craft was laid in the Napa Valley, California, where he was based for eight years in the 1990s—including at Newton, Saintsbury, Forman and Peter Michael Winery.
Including off-season harvests in New Zealand, Domain Dujac in Burgundy and several in Oregon, Steve has 31 vintages under his belt, as well as Lincoln University’s viticulture and oenology post- graduate diploma.
“My knowledge of wine-making, and beliefs about how the best Pinot is made, has grown out of this experience and the conversations I’ve had with great winemakers.
“My challenge now is to choose what’s relevant from what I know, and most of all to learn from the soil and vines of my vineyard, at their pace.
“I am proud to be part of the Pinot tradition, in John Saker’s words:
Theirs is a winemaking subculture notable for its hunger to find out more, to share ideas, to taste and compare terroirs. Ultimately, their goal is not so much to make the best wines possible as to make the most truthful wines possible.*”
* Pinot Noir: The New Zealand Story, Random House NZ Ltd (2010)
