Hamish Dodson: Following in His Father's Footsteps

It has been a family affair for Hamish Dodson, who manages Sandhill Estate Vineyards in the Marlborough region. Sandhill Estate Vineyards has passed through six generations on their Spring Creek property where they've farmed sheep, beef, dairy and crops over the years. Today, it has turned into a balanced operation comprising grapes and beef cattle.

It all started with four Dodson brothers who arrived from England in the mid-1800s; two travelled to Nelson and the other two stayed in Marlborough. In 1854, George Dodson (Hamish’s great-great-great-grandfather) bought land in Spring Creek – a small town that sits six kilometres outside of Blenheim. Back then, the town was prone to torrential flooding; George was on the Spring Creek River Board for 25 years to help mitigate it. He was also on the Wasteland Board and Provincial Council.

During those years, George used to grow crops: barley, pumpkins, potatoes and peas. They also farmed a lot of sheep. Over the years, however, farming practices and production continued to change with the times and the next two generations grew crops and milked cows.

Ted and Bryan (Hamish’s grandad and father) started milking cows twice a day. When Ted and his wife Sylvia retired, they moved to Blenheim township leaving Bryan and Kathryn (Hamish’s mother) to manage the estate.

Bryan transitioned out of dairy, selling the herd in 2005 to try his hand at beef fattening for a while. Around that time, the viticulture industry in Marlborough started booming and for Bryan and the family, it was a no brainer to join up, with Sandhill Estate beginning to grow grapes in 2007.

Just like Hamish, his dad loved working with animals but passed away in 2018 leaving Hamish to manage the estate, including hiring seasonal contractors during vintage. Hamish still runs a small number of beef cattle, usually around 75 of them, buying them in as calves and keeping them until 18 to 24 months old. Their property spans 70 hectares with 31 hectares dedicated to Sauvignon Blanc grapes split across two locations. They produce grapes for two different outlets: Yealands get 24 hectares of their production whilst the other seven hectares goes to Marlborough Grape Growers Cooperative.

“The Co-op is owned by the growers, it’s the way it’s structured. So, everything that goes into it is funded by the growers in terms of what they get paid at the other end. It’s a really good way of making the most out of the grapes in terms of money value per tonne and you don’t have a structure where it’s owned by overseas investors. The Co-op doesn’t have its own winery, the wine gets made in different locations,” Hamish said.

The Dodson family are very much involved in the viticulture industry with Kathryn, Hamish and his sister Sarah being the proud owners of Sandhill Estate Vineyards. Sarah lives locally with her husband Nick and their two children. She studied viticulture and helps with winemaking at Grove Mill Winery, and Nick works for Oyster Bay.

Before Hamish started working at Sandhill Estate full time, he studied agriculture at Lincoln University, graduating with honours. He then went on to work for Talley’s Group in Ashburton and Blenheim which gave him experience in cropping. Hamish has taken on a lot of responsibility at quite a young age, but his study and work experiences have given him the wisdom to be innovative and implement new ideas for their family farm and vineyard. In his spare time, he enjoys helping out the local rugby committee and fishing in the Marlborough Sounds.

Plans for Sandhill Estate include decreasing cattle to bring in more grapes and planting crops to stimulate the soil for new vineyards. “At the moment, half the farm is in grapes and half of it in grass, so as we move more into grapes, it means less grass for the cattle. Instead of being in a hurry to develop in the spring with spraying off the grass, putting in the grapes and getting everything done, I was trying to look at planting a crop that we could work into the soil as a green manure – something like peas and oats or just something to add a bit of nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. That way, it means when I come to put the grapes in, hopefully they'll do better when getting them into the ground,” Hamish said.

Hamish’s nearest Goldpine store is in Blenheim where he gets most of his fencing supplies. “Over the years, we've used most of Goldpine’s posts – we've done half rounds and now we’re using Superposts® which I really like. Looking at our different blocks for broken posts – generally there are always some – there’s four hectares of fencing with Superposts® and we only broke one.”

In two years’ time, Hamish plans on adding a further seven hectares in grapes. With plants comes posts and we’re very excited to see the upcoming developments at Sandhill Estate.