AttitudeLive - Blind Winemaker

After losing his sight, former Kaikoura farmer Rod Henderson is reinventing himself as a winemaker.

Well I reckon if a
sighted person can do it,

I can do it even better. So yeah.
It might take me longer to do,

but I'll get there in the end.

It's all he wants. He's just<br>a very active husband

again and bringing in
the wage and looking after his family.

Ex-farmer Rod Henderson
dreams of living his days

making wine.

He's taken the first step,
and is in his second year

of a wine-making degree.

Now all he needs
to do is line up a job.

So Rod, how is the vintage
looking this year?

Not too bad. If we get a bit<br>more fine weather instead of

all this rain, it'll be a lot better.

Born blind in one eye, Rod<br>began his working life farming.

Ten years ago, he lost his
sight in the other eye.

He was unable to farm, but
a chance meeting with a friend

introduced him to grapes.

These ones are
Gewürztraminer here.

Not quite ready yet, but...

Oh, they are quite<br>sweet, aren't they?

Oh, assistant winemaker. [laughter]

He's got the taste for it as well.

He's got the sweet tooth.

Vinny is Rod's new guide dog.
He's still a novice in the vineyard,

but he's already
got a taste for it.

Since losing your sight,
how difficult is this work for you now?

Not really difficult at all,
because I don't need to see anything.

A lot of it's all due by taste or if you're
not sure, you can take it into the lab,

and get somebody to do it, or get a
wee machine, try and do it yourself, yeah.

But the journey from
Kaikoura farmer to novice

Blenheim winemaker
has been a tough one.

He'd long accepted that he had
sight in just one eye, but he was

completely unprepared
for blindness.

I was pissed off.

Lost me driver's license
and couldn't go anywhere,

nothing to do, got bored,
did a lot of drinking.

Then we just met a mate up here
in Blenheim one day, and he was

managing a vineyard and
I said, "I can do that."

So I went out and planted
me own vineyard and started from there.

Rod grew grapes on contract.<br>He did a lot of the manual

work and could prune and tidy
vines by feel. But he soon got

really keen on the
winemaking side of things.

This machine's only just new on<br>the market, been out a year

and I finally got my hands on one.

That saves lots of time in<br>the lab,especially for me.

I can read it and see it and

at the moment the Blind Foundation
are just working on putting the

Jaws program on the computer
for me, so hopefully,

in about three weeks<br>time, it'll be talking,

whole computer will be talking
to me, so it'll be good,

and I'll be into it.

Rod's determined to earn
a place in the wine industry,

so he's chasing a
Bachelor of Wine Science.

Nowadays, if he's not working
on the vines, he's at home

studying by correspondence.
One year down, four years to go.

Never done chemistry
before, so it's a real

brain-teaser here.
It's hard. [laughing]

What's it like going back<br>to study something

so complex after being
away from school for so long?

I have to get Rose to
give me a hand, try and work it out.

How many electrons?
Usually one, two, or three electrons.

I think it's good for Rod.
He went through a stage after

losing his sight of not knowing
where to go, what to do,

and he's always been
highly independent.

So he's channeled his energies into this
and I'll support him all the way.

Although a couple of
local winemakers have given him

work experience at vintage time,
he's struggled to find paid work.

If he can't find a job,
he's got a plan.

I've bought a lot of
wine-making gear off places,

and I've got presses, destemmers and
tanks and pumps and all the gears,

and I'll start my own
little contract winery.

I'm hoping that
someone will hire Rod.

They'll get a worker that
they'll be very proud of.

But if he doesn't,
knowing my husband,

he's going to start his own
business and do it anyway. [laughs]

Meanwhile, I'd better help Rod<br>get in a bit more practice,

starting with the
local Gewürztraminer.

So what sorts of things are
you looking for in this wine?

Taste, yeah.

Yeah, it's a lovely<br>bouquet, isn't it?

I always reckon it's like smelling<br>your grandmother's handbag.

[laughter]