But to do that on Bendigo Station, in the heart of Central Otago, it has taken technology, resources and water. At Mt Difficulty Wines at Bannockburn, James Dicey describes water as "the key to unlocking the land". When the Dicey family turned up in 1990, there were no grapes there, just "scraggly merinos and rabbits". "This landscape has been absolutely transformed by water, in my humble opinion for the positive," Mr Dicey said. "Water is the new gold, if we haven’t already realised that in Central Otago," he said.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 22, 2018 17:03 UTC