Okanagan Crush pad producers of Haywire and Narrative wines has built a reputation as one of the premium producers in the Okanagan. Matt Dumayne is their winemaker; whose reputation is growing around BC and across the pond.
Matt Dumayne was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. After
completing a course from Auckland University of Technology and Eastern
Institute of Technology’s wine courses in Hawke’s Bay, he launched his
winemaking career in 1998.
Matt worked for eight years under the guidance
of Grant Taylor, one of the world’s most awarded Pinot Noir winemakers.
There he gained a unique understanding of the various microclimates and
pockets of terroir that make this southerly region so exciting, and creating
wines for award-winning labels such as Bald Hills and Valli Vineyards.
Wanting to make expressive, yet delicately balanced Pinots, with savory
complexity, Matt travelled to Oregon during the New Zealand winters,
increasing his winemaking skills at Panther Creek Cellars, Archery Summit,
Patricia Green Cellars, and Bergström Wines.
He also made wine for a vintage
each at Pine Ridge Winery on the Silverado Trail in Napa, and at Stella Bella
Wines in Margaret River, Australia. In BC he worked under a vintage working with Randy Picton at Nk’Mip Cellars and Michael Bartier.
Matt has lived in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia since 2011 and joined
Okanagan Crush Pad in 2012. He has been integral to evolving the style of the
Haywire and Narrative wines to natural winemaking practices. Today, he lives
on the winery’s 312-acre Garnet Valley Ranch in Summerland
with his family.
Matt is the head winemaker at Okanagan Crush Pad in Summerland,British Columbia. producing wines for Haywire and Coolshanagh winery. He has also helped a number of other BC wineries get started. At the crush pad,Dumayne crafts natural wines using organically farmed grapes in state-of-the-art concrete tanks, native yeast and minimal additives. The wines reflect the region’s unique high mountain/northern desert setting noted for its intensely hot, short growing season with hallmark cool evenings.
He made Mirabel Vineyards first wines, a limited release Pinot Noir.
Matt is also busy guiding Andrew Estell at Singletree.
Haywire Canyonview Pinot Noir 2011 | Lieutenant Governor’s Award Winner 2014 for Excellence in BC Wines.
“If you had told me five years ago that I would be making red wine without barrels, but in concrete, I would have thought you were crazy,” he says now. “But the wines speak for themselves.” Matt Dumayne