Grant Taylor turns up to our interview in a singlet, jeans and gumboots and immediately sets about helping move the first barrel of pinot noir grapes in the winery to enable easier access.
Moments earlier Valli Vineyards Ltd assistant winemaker and laboratory technician Nicole Schofield had removed plastic wrap from the barrel - also wrapped in dacron - placed a large wooden beam on top of the barrel, jumped on to it and started plunging the grapes.
It was a process hindered by the slanting roof - once on the wooden beam, Ms Schofield was unable to stand upright.
It's abundantly clear Valli Vineyards, on Resta Rd, is not your typical winery.
A small portacom building houses the staffroom and the large wine barrels, quickly being filled as the 2013 harvest, which began at Valli on April 11, progresses.
The barrels, once filled, will all be wrapped in dacron and then plastic wrap to keep them warm as the temperatures begin to drop.
The lid of the first barrel didn't quite fit, so plastic wrap went over the top to ''keep the fruit flies off'' - it's Kiwi ingenuity at its best and, as Ms Schofield explained, winemakers could spend a lot of money on top-of-the-line equipment, but when dacron and plastic wrap do the same job - and is cheaper - it's an unnecessary expense for the Valli team, whose wines have been recognised nationally and internationally.
That recognition includes a gold medal at the 2011 Air New Zealand Wine Awards for the 2009 Valli Bannockburn Vineyard pinot noir, while the 2010 Gibbston Vineyard pinot noir was awarded Best Pinot Noir at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London last year - the second time one of Mr Taylor's wines has received the accolade and a feat achieved by no other winemaker in the world.
Considering the vineyard boasts a full-time staff of five - Mr Taylor, Ms Schofield, assistant winemaker and viticulturist Duncan Billing, property and maintenance manager Tim Valli and Hollis Heidelberg Giddens, responsible for sales and marketing - they are impressive achievements.
In 2006, before the global financial crisis, about 30% of the vineyard's wine was exported. Now 50% of its wine goes offshore, with its major markets in Europe, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and China.
He tells me this as he is helping Ms Schofield move that first barrel of red gold to a position in his winery which will be slightly kinder to her back as she plunges the grapes every day initially - and several times a day as the fermenting process progresses.
It could be said Mr Taylor was born to be a winemaker - the name of his vineyard came from his great-great grandfather, Giuseppe Valli, an Italian who came to New Zealand with a background in silk worm farming and producing balsamic vinegar. Friends joke Mr Taylor is still carrying on the family tradition with the latter.
As a child - in the absence of soft drinks - Mr Taylor began making ginger beer and in later years, when his family moved to Auckland, an apple tree in the backyard led him to create his own cider.
At Lincoln University Mr Taylor began studying agriculture - but in a serendipitous twist, he ''found a wine club'' and decided to join.
It wasn't long before he took a viticulture course at Lincoln - a decision which has reaped benefits for him ever since.
He made friends with exchange students from the University of California, near Napa, and later, after visiting Napa on his OE, he realised ''the wine industry was an industry I could have a career in''.
''I applied for a job in a brand new winery and got a job as an assistant winemaker.''
Despite competing against people with formal wine-making qualifications for the job, his New Zealand farming attitude - ''you do what needs to be done'' - gave him the edge, securing him the position at Pine Ridge Winery in Napa in 1980.
He stayed there until 1986 and the following year helped build Domaine Napa, working there as head wine maker until 1993, when he returned to New Zealand for a holiday.
After meeting Alan Brady - who happened to be looking for a winemaker - Mr Taylor decided to return to his Otago roots.
At that time, just 20ha of vines had been planted at Gibbston - there is now about 1700ha.
He stayed with Gibbston Valley Wines, helping open Valli in conjunction with GVW in 1998 and in 2006 moved to Valli full time. He has not looked back since.
Valli now has vineyards at Gibbston, Bannockburn, Bendigo and Waitaki and its riesling is produced from Blackridges vineyard in Alexandra.
''Sometimes I feel like I'm not making just wine, I'm building a brand. You've got to protect that.
''If we have a downturn ... you cut costs ... your wine quality goes down.''
Quality is something Mr Taylor refuses to compromise on, particularly when it comes to the grapes.
''You can't make good wine out of bad grapes.
''I would make more [wine], but I have to have a good quality of grapes.''
As far as the 2013 vintage goes, Mr Taylor predicts more depth of flavour, a result of the maturing vines.
