Chasing Pinot: A conversation with Prophet’s Rock Winemaker, Paul Pujol.

I always thought Paul was a southland born lad, he seems so connected to the land, but I was wrong, he’s was born in Hamilton “the mighty Tron” as he likes to call it. His mum is from Hamilton too and his dad from France.

“My dad’s probably the first person in history to immigrate from Salon-de-Provence to Hamilton”

I had to ask how someone would choose the Tron as a destination, turns out his dad was a skilled boiler maker and while on leave from the French company he worked for came to Auckland, met Paul’s mum and just a few weeks later were together in France.

A little over a year later and just before Paul was born, they came back to NZ. With his dad’s work the family moved around a bit, Paul’s formative education was mainly in Whangarei. After high-school the classic Kiwi OE to the UK was calling, but working in English pubs pulling beers didn’t appeal to Paul so he decided to trip around France for a year picking up the language along the way. Upon his return to NZ Paul went to university with the idea that a degree in international management might get him back to France. That plan didn’t work so well so he swapped to outdoor education and medical exercise prescription in the hope that it would keep his passion for skiing and white-water kayaking alive and in paid work. Paul recalls that wine appreciation was part of Uni’ life and remembers the natural exposure to wine culture while in France “I slowly developed an interest in drinking decent wine”, says Paul. As the stars were beginning to align for his future career, Paul’s interest in cool climate viticulture was brewing in the background, later confirmed with a university field trip to Marlborough, “if you’re chasing Pinot Noir, and I was, Lincoln was the best university to attend”, says Paul. With a degree in hand Paul completed a post-graduate diploma in viticulture and oenology at Lincoln University in Canterbury. His first appointment was with Seresin Wines in Marlborough, “they were doing some exciting things in the vineyard as well as wild ferments in the winery, were focused on fine wine with a strong Pinot Noir program”. This was in 2000 and after vintage, like many new winemakers, Paul decided it would be a good idea to attempt four more vintages in 12 months so hatched a plan to make it all happen. Seresin was 1st, then wineries in the Languedoc Rousillon (2nd), Sancerre (3rd) and Alsace (4th). His plan to make the 5th in the Hunter Valley on the way home didn’t happen,

“As luck would have it Maison Kuentz-Bas (Alsace) were looking for a winemaker and subsequently offered me the job. I became the first non-family winemaker at Kuentz-Bas since the company started in 1795.”

Paul’s wife joined him in Alsace and three and a half years later he and family had decided to work their way home to Aotearoa. A winemaking role at Lemelson Vineyards in Oregon became a two-vintage diversion along the way, but they finally all arrived home in 2005. Two family members were born during this winemaking journey – a daughter, born in Alsace, and a son born in Oregon.

Now home and determined to stay in wine production Paul learned of a winemaker role at a new wine company called Prophet’s Rock in Otago (named after a goldminer from the 1800s) and after meeting with the owners visited the vineyard in Bendigo (Paul is smiling at this point).

“I knew immediately this was a special place.”

Prophet’s Rock is an elevated site, frost-free with clay and chalk soils. Paul has been the winemaker there since 2006 crafting Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, a Vin de Paille sweet wine and Pinot Noir. There are several different expressions of Pinot Noir from the Home Vineyard and Rocky Point sites, a Retrospect late release expression and new to the portfolio is a Pinot named Olearia, a wine from a soil specific section of the vineyard. One other wine that has a wonderful back story is the Cuvée Aux Antipodes, a Pinot Noir made not by Paul, but by François Millet. Millet is a very well-known and respected winemaker from Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé in Burgundy. When Jean-Luc Pepin, also from Comte Georges de Vogüé, visited to NZ for the Pinot Celebration in 2009 he happened to try some of Paul’s wines, was very complementary and invited Paul to visit his vineyards and winery if he was ever in France. Sure enough, Paul was able to work vintage that year in Burgundy which is where he met and worked with Millet. Paul recalled digging out a tank of skins from one of the more famous parcels of fruit (Les Amoureuses).

“it was like standing in a tank full of flowers, very intoxicating – those scents will stay with me forever.”

I can now see why Paul’s turn of phrase ‘chasing pinot’ is so important and meaningful. In discovering that Millet and Paul had a lot in common from winemaking and transparency of site into the wine, cooperage and barrel selections Paul decided to invite François’s son Julien to NZ to do vintage. During a visit to NZ to see his son François also tried Paul’s wines and like Pepin before him was very complementary of Paul’s work. Somewhat cheekily Paul invited Millet to make some wine from the Prophet’s Rock site and to Paul’s delight François said yes. After walking the site, tasting through back vintages and receiving tank samples from various parcels sent to him in Burgundy, François chose a section of the vineyard to make his wine. This is how the Cuvée Aux Antipodes wine was born, with the first vintage in 2015. François has returned to NZ many times to make his cuvée at Prophet’s Rock.

Pujol’s stewardship of the land to wine at Prophet’s Rock is set to continue.

“I still feel the connection to this place and find it hard to imagine losing that link and to these wines.”

I can see why this will be true of Paul, his understanding of soil and site, aspect and the voice of place and time from a vineyard crafted into a bottle of wine is ingrained in him. https://www.prophetsrock.co.nz/