Wool and wine at Drummond Farm
From their little white home behind emerald grapevines, Alex Muir and Leah Creaven create true and pure products. By Julia Mahony. Photos by Lucia Zanmonti
Hand-made ceramic wine bottles sit in clusters beneath earth-toned wool swatches and cones in the workshop down Lake Ferry Road, Martinborough, Two circular cane chairs are placed for sitters to ponder the studio’s delights and vines beyond.
Leah, 29, is a textile artist from Ireland, who makes rugs and wall art using New Zealand wool. Taupo-raised Alex, 30, is a farmer’s son, viticulturist and winemaker. Together, they produce Drummond Farm wines. Yes, it’s another vineyard – but things at this emerging small business are atypical.
They met four years ago, soon after Alex bought the land and used his middle name – Drummond – to call it his own. “It really is a love story,” he says. “I was in a café on Martinborough Fair day and a lovely woman waved at me through the window. That was Leah.”
Leah was working locally as an au pair but moved over the hill to manage a wool shop in Wellington, where she played Gaelic football and visited Alex in Martinborough when she could.
Things changed when Leah found work at Ventana Creative in Martinborough. She is now a designer at local underwear business Thunderpants, where her own Dark Skyprint is featured. “Getting a textile job in a wine town – how lucky am I,” she says.
Leah uses wooden frames, hand stitching and power tools to “paint with wool” using punch needle and rug tufting techniques. She sells online through her LV Textiles website and has been included in exhibitions at Aratoi and in Featherston.
“I’ve fallen in love with the qualities and structure of New Zealand wool, but I’m not a knitter – I’m too impatient for that,” she says, stroking a rug tufting gun loaded with yarn down open weave tufting cloth, to demonstrate her craft.
The couple’s shared interests did not extend to drinks when they first got together. Leah, who had studied textile design in Dublin city, was a committed Guinness drinker and for Christmas 2019, she took Alex home to meet her family in County Galway.
“I have coeliac disease, so can’t drink beer,” Alex says. “When Leah’s family offered me beer, I’d reply with something like: ‘Do you have a Rosé?’ Leah gave me grief for swirling wine in a glass but she’s just as fussy about Guinness, which she says only tastes good in Ireland.”
Drummond Farm covers 3.8 hectares, of which 1.7 hectares are planted with grapevines. Alex, a Lincoln University graduate, makes Pinot Noir, Rosé, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. His “pride and joy” are three new red varieties planted in 2018 – Gamay Noir, St Laurent and Lagrein – a commercial first for Martinborough, Alex says.
Leah designs the labels and covers marketing. She also traverses the farm on Betsy, a “wobbly” red 1970 Massey Ferguson tractor, helping Alex with the land and vines.
A commitment to sustainability led to a collaboration with Carterton potter Paul Melser, who makes reusable ceramic wine bottles that are filled with Drummond Farm Pinot Noir. Almost 150 bottles have been snapped up, with more on the way. The couple are exploring more sustainable ways of packaging wine, such as paper tape instead of plastic.
“Ceramic bottles will never be mainstream due to expense, but the water and energy used to recycle glass wine bottles is a concern,” Alex says.
Drummond Farm is a little vineyard where no one’s embarrassed to ask wine-beginner questions. Alex and Leah are warm and exuberant but for those not cellar-door confident, Drummond Farm can be purchased at the local P&K, among other outlets.
Recognising the mental health pressures of working in agriculture led Alex and Leah to donate money from wine sales to Surfing for Farmers, which offers free surfing lessons to help rural workers let it all go in the waves.
“Wine is like drinking history,” Alex says. “Each vintage holds those grapes, that land and this climate, which will never be repeated.” His love story with Leah and the liquid and art they craft are sure to cultivate many seasonal tales.
