Sam Neill celebrates 25 years of his Two Paddocks wine wearing a hat also celebrating Country Life's 25 years Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
From sinister bad guy to gentleman winegrower, it's all in a season's work for veteran New Zealand actor Sam Neill.
He returned to his Central Otago home from Brisbane earlier this month to find vines shooting up, his pet pigs waiting for a scratch and a young stand of native trees thriving on a ridge overlooking his Red Bank Vineyard.
"I was doing my day job. It was guns and getting shot and stuff like that," he said of his role in his latest film Bring Him to Me, being shot in Queensland.
"I love playing bad guys. They're really rewarding but here we are ... I'm back full-time with the wine again."
Red Bank is the headquarters for Neill's Two Paddocks label.
The 60-hectare property used to be a government research farm looking into crop suitability for the region.
There's still lavender, saffron, truffles and fruit trees alongside the vines, all organic.
A couple of hairy kunekune pigs, Angelica and Bryan and Peking ducks, also named after celebrities, add to the diversity.
Sam's kunekune Bryan, named after Bryan Brown, likes a good scratch. This Bryan is a girl. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Flowering was about a week away when Country Life visited.
"It's a scary, but scary in a nice way, time of the year.
"We're always sailing close to the wind. That's the thing about growing wine in a cold climate."
Neill's excited most by the farming side of wine but says he's obviously of most use when it comes to the marketing, although there's much less need for that now Two Paddocks is into its third decade.
With winemaker Dean Shaw, viticulturalist Mike Wing and the rest of his vineyard team, Neill is celebrating the 25th consecutive vintage of Two Paddocks Pinot Noir which he established in Gibbston Valley in 1993.
Mike Wing, Two Paddocks' viticulturalist Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Friend and mentor James Mason introduced him to the grape variety during a trip to Charlie Chaplin's favourite restaurant in Switzerland in 1979.
"It was like nothing I'd ever tasted before.
"I asked him what it was and he said 'this is burgundy, my boy, and don't forget it'.
"The idea that I could grow my favourite wine in my favourite place was such a lovely idea I couldn't resist it."
Sam Neill was introduced to Pinot Noir in 1979 by a mentor and friend who told him "this is Burgundy my boy and don't forget it" Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Seventy-five-year-old Neill told Country Life he loves acting too much to go into retirement on the vineyard, even with a pair of snips in hand.
It would upset the balance he's found in life.
"One offsets the other, one kind of mitigates the other, one enhances the other," he said.
Two Paddocks is celebrating its 25th vintage this year Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Pet ducks and pigs bring diversity to Red Bank, HQ for Two Paddocks Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
