The 79-year-old winemaker has a legacy of a cellar bursting with a growing variety of bottled nectars, including apricot, blackberry, pineapple and beetroot.
He has been at it for more than 50 years and is showing no sign of slowing down.
"I pick the grapes the week before May Day and use a potato masher on each berry. With six-gallon barrels, I used to add yeast, three pounds of sugar and a gallon of water to four pounds of fruit, but ended up with about 100 gallons (of finished wine) that way, so now just I use pure fruit with less sugar," Mr Weatherall said.
Fermentation takes three months to age before bottling, and by separating the juice from the skins and pulp, Mr Weatherall makes both red and white wine to about 14% alcohol volume from the same grapes.
Mr Weatherall arrived in Milton from Inch Clutha in 1952 and worked at the wool mill.
He started brewing beer "shortly after getting married" in 1965.
He made his first wine from Hawthorn berries in 1972, after trying his brother’s homemade efforts, and cheese and wine evenings became a go-to for celebrations.
For decades, Mr Weatherall has sponsored stock for community fundraisers and supplied wine for family weddings and reunions.
He was a "union man" and kept letters of gratitude for gifts of homemade wine from dignitaries including Jim Anderton and Bruce Beetham.
His scrapbooks hold scores of awards from brewers’ competitions and A&P shows, and include candid connoisseur reviews nosing everything, including Riesling, sherry and medicine.
"Last year’s [grapes] was the heaviest crop ever, with 120 bottles of maybe the best wine I’ve made. But this year is looking very good too."
Weatherall wines sometime entice with racy labels.
His personal collection was a cellar of least 2500 litres, selected from the best of over 40 varieties, secreted away somewhere among 200m of shelving for his one-of-a-kind bottle collection, he said.
"If I drank a bottle a day, I might be able to finish them all in about 10 years," he said.
"I never thought about selling it, I couldn’t be bothered with the paperwork. It’s just good and natural and special to give away, or keep since it lasts so well. It’s brought a lot of enjoyment and I think it’ll make an interesting inheritance for somebody special too."
By Nick Brook
