Born & Raised

David and Helen Messum have covered a fair bit of ground in relatively quick time since starting specialised wine and hospitality marketing agency Just a Drop in 2009. Interaction with David's clients led him to the conclusion that he should be making wine as well as finding ways for others to market their wines. Part of the realisation came from working with hipster winery Pyramid Valley and major quality-oriented producer Craggy Range in NZ. David likes to dabble in wild yeast ferments, odd varietal couplings, sometimes staying in the realm of conventionally made wine (wild yeast is no big deal these days) and at times going way out, as he did with his 2014 Sauvignon Blanc, which spent 104 days on skins. -JAMES HALLIDAY