Spotlight on Twelfth Night Vineyard crew member Eric Bihl
Twelfth Night Wines has welcomed vineyard workers from all over the world but this is the first time, however, that we have had a crew member who arrived in New Zealand by sea! Eric Bihl joined the Twelfth Night team in November 2018 and plans to stay until after the harvest. Read all about Eric below.
Where are you from? Tell us a bit about your background, your childhood and your studies.
“Where are you from?” is a more complicated question than it should be, but I’ve recently taken to telling people I’m from Washington, D.C., as it is the last place I lived in the United States and is in the running for longest continuous habitation. The lengthier answer is I was born in Belgium and moved around quite a bit as a child with a significant stretch in England. My family moved to Connecticut for middle and high school. I then spent my senior year of high school in Rennes, France, with a program called SYA before enrolling at Wake Forest University.
What brought you to New Zealand and how did you connect with the folks at Twelfth Night Wines?
I literally took the slow boat to New Zealand. I sailed here with my friend Kennon in our 1971 Tartan 34c “Temujin” that we spent the last three years outfitting for a circumnavigation. We left Washington D.C. on January 15th 2018 and arrived in New Zealand on Thanksgiving Day via a route westwards around Cuba and through the Panama Canal and the South Pacific.
After deciding to spend the Pacific cyclone season, which is roughly November to May, in New Zealand, we figured it would be prudent to seek gainful employment. Serendipitously, I left a career in the wine industry back in D.C., and the only people I knew with any connection whatsoever to New Zealand, the Dahans, happened to own a vineyard here. I have known the Dahan family for over twenty years, as Arié and my father worked together in London in the late 90’s. I have distinct memories of watching the 1998 World Cup at their house as a ten year old. (France won!)
What did you do in the wine industry prior to coming to New Zealand?
Prior to leaving the U.S. I worked in sales and distribution for the E&J Gallo Winery in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards about working in a vineyard?
The biggest challenge has definitely been how physical the work is. I’m no stranger to manual labor, but after a full day bud rubbing or stretching out nets you come home exhausted. On the other side of the coin, you hit the pillow with a deep sense of peace and accomplishment. This is going to come off as hackneyed, but you truly develop a connection to the vines, the grapes, and the wine while working in the vineyard. You spend every day ensuring the well-being of these living things, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of obligation and pride that comes with stewardship. It has been a real joy to expand my knowledge of the production side of things, and working at Twelfth Night has given me a much greater appreciation for the amount of work that goes into a bottle of wine, irrespective of origin. Those who are not as theoretically inclined might find reward being part of an outstanding team creating a quality product. At the very least, Central Otago is absolutely, stunningly, beautiful.
Have you travelled to other places in New Zealand and what are your favorite memories?
I’ve travelled a good bit in the South Island from Arthur’s Pass down to the Fiordlands, and spent some time in the Bay of Islands on the North Island when I first arrived. It’s hard to pick favorites, as there are so many amazing things to see and so much geographic diversity packed into one small country, but the high point of my time here has been getting engaged to my lovely now fiancée, Lauren.
What are your plans after you finish your time at Twelfth Night?
Get married! Eventually. I still have a good bit of ocean to cover before I get home, but thankfully I have a partner who is incredibly supportive, and patient. I will leave New Zealand in May, continuing to sail West with the goal of being in South Africa by early November. As I will be there a few months it is my intention to work in the wine industry in some capacity there as well.
No Comments