‘The Land was arid and deserted
...the brothers made wine’
‘Dicey’ – defined as ‘Unpredictable and potentially risky’
Dicey wines are the culmination of a family’s life work forging a path of international acclaim for Mt Difficulty in Central Otago, and the ambition to write their next vinous chapter with full control, attention to detail and an unwavering focus on quality above quantity.
James is the grower, Matt the caretaker. Two brothers, Two neighbours. Fierce about wine, family, and Bannockburn – the land where they have put down roots. Wine runs deep for the Diceys. In the dirt and in the veins. James and Matt live and work side by side. The middle where they meet can be a place of inspiration and friction.
All fruit for Dicey is sourced from the family’s vineyards in the Bannockburn sub region of Central Otago. James and Odelle own the Inlet vineyard. Matt and Ali tend Black Rabbit. Their pioneering parents, Robin and Margi own Swansong.
Dicey Bannockburn wines pay homage. They tell the annual story of the region and share the colours of each season. The single vineyard wines have an even sharper focus. Everything is estate grown. Every wine is bottled and labelled with as much love and focus on quality as their careers in wine production in Bannockburn tributes.
SUSTAINABILITY.
100% sustainably accredited for all vineyards to the NZ Winegrowers Sustainable Winegrowing NZ, we are also in organic conversion to the BioGro standard, this should be attained for vintage 2022. We try to follow a pathway of minimal soil intervention mowing rather than cultivating for weed control ensuring that our fragile soil stays undisturbed, this also aids a natural reduction in yield due to competition from the understory. We have sown cover crops to provide nutrients and homes for beneficial insects. We recycle all winery pressings and compost these and also run a worm farm to further enhance the compost. In addition, we use Biochar (effectively pure carbon that comes from local waste products, mostly old pallets) to act as a sponge for the compost / worm nutrients and a way to build Carbon in our soils.
The same minimal intervention philosophy carries over into our winemaking. All our ferments are “wild”, using yeasts naturally found in the vineyard and winery, to aid complexity and further enhance vineyard expression. The wines are minimally handled and are unfined. On our single vineyard Pinot Noirs we mature the wines in neutral oak barrels to aid integration but to add no oak derived flavours - in our attempt to strip all artifice from the wines so the vineyard expression is as honest and true as possible.