an interview with Marcus Wright - Senior Winemaker for Lawson’s Dry Hills.

Lawson’s Dry Hills are an award winning company, cultivating top quality vineyards in various regions across Marlborough, New Zealand. Making excellent wine is at the heart of life for their small, hard working team. As a family run business of almost 30 years, Lawson’s Dry Hills produce a beautiful selection of wines that include their flagship Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Gewürztraminer, to name but a few. 

Marcus Wright has been involved in the wine industry since the 90s, having spent time working in prestigious wineries across Montana, Chile and France, before joining the team at Lawson’s Dry Hills in 2001. With the help of Belinda Jackson - the company’s Group Marketing Manager - we were able to grab a few minutes (long distance!) of Marcus’ time, to talk about life on the estate. This interview took place on 5th August 2020.

Q: What do you love about the world of wine?

Marcus: The people and the places. Wine is always grown in beautiful places with lovely climates and the people are always interesting. Sometimes mad…

Q: What makes the land in this part of New Zealand (Marlborough) interesting for making wine?

Marcus: It’s the geography. We are sheltered on three sides by mountain ranges which provide us with a cool but sunny, dry climate - perfect for varietal expression and aromatic wines. New Zealand’s world class wine is Sauvignon Blanc - we do an amazing job of it. We do an amazing job of a lot of other varieties (pinot noir included!), but the undisputed king is Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. 

Q: What does a general day in the winery look like for you?

Marcus: The great thing is there is no typical day! We do everything ourselves - from vineyard management and harvesting through to making, bottling and warehousing. It means we are masters of our own destiny. On any given day I could be cleaning the tanks, helping on the bottling line, doing tastings with visitors, or spending time in the vineyards with our vineyard team. Another day might find me tasting through barrels and making blending decisions, or tasting three dozen tanks of Sauvignon Blanc to work out which is best! I also do some promotional work in New Zealand and overseas, which is an important part of the business. Growing and making the wine is the easy bit!

Q: Where does work end and life begin on the estate?

Marcus: They kind of meld together, really. I’m coming up to 20 years with the company and I’m not even the longest serving staff member! My son - who is in his second year at university - was just a few weeks old when I started. So we have all seen each other’s kids grow up (and new ones arrive!). We’ve had young staff join and grow up here…and there’s a real extended family of growers and past staff members that support us and have been a big part of the journey.

Q: What excites you day to day?

Marcus: Wine, wine, wine! The whole process is about getting every detail right - from the grape into the bottle. It’s also something you can rarely do perfectly, so that’s what we strive for. That’s our challenge. 

Q: What are your plans for the estate going forward?

Marcus: We certainly have no plans to stand still! We have a strong environmental programme going on with a bunch of sustainability goals - we are commissioning a new solar panel array today! On the wine front, we are currently trying to push the boundaries with Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. This has started in the vineyards and is being worked right through the winery. We only get one shot at this each year so this is long term stuff, but already we are starting to see the fruits of our labour. Really exciting.

Q: Has this year changed how you view your place in the world?

Marcus: We are unbelievably lucky down here in our bubble of 5 million. It reaffirms for me what a special place New Zealand is.