Meristem Viticulture
Dr Dylan Grigg - Consulting Viticulturist -
Advice that brings the science and practice of grape growing together in a way that can be understood.
Meristem Viticulture has been providing advice and service since 2008. As an independent viticulturist, I travel widely to learn, advise and share what I know. I currently work across growing regions within Australia, in addition to overseas.
With over 25 years' experience in viticulture, I combine practical, hands-on vineyard work with a PhD-level foundation in viticultural science. That combination is what lets me give advice that's practical, considered and relevant, not just technically correct.
I enjoy working with people who share the same interest in the connection between environment, viticulture and winemaking.
I'm currently not taking on new clients. If you'd like to enquire or join the waitlist, get in touch via email below.
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About me: the short version - A longer version follows below.
I've been involved in viticulture for more than 25 years, working with businesses ranging from large commercial operations to small estates, across many growing regions in Australia and abroad. My approach is science-forward and practical, aiming for vine health and balance through soil management and seasonal decisions that respect the local environment. I encourage and practise organic farming, and other practices that support the whole system, not just the vine. I've worked across a wide range of climates and varieties.
My doctoral thesis focused on grapevine age and quality measurements among some of the oldest vines in the world, so old vines are a particular interest of mine, personally and professionally. That extends to my own old vine Grenache vineyard in the deep sands of Vine Vale, in the Barossa Valley.
I have a constant appetite for knowledge and experience. There's still a lot we don't fully understand about how vines and their environment interact, and I enjoy both asking the questions and chasing the answers. My practical skills started at the bottom: years of driving tractors, training vines and walking rows, combined later with university qualifications up to PhD level in viticulture. I'm honest, approachable, and always happy to talk viticulture and wine.
About: the long version
I grew up in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. Soon after finishing high school, I found work pruning in my hometown of Lyndoch, as the sole employee of a small estate. There I worked across every area of farming a small vineyard demands, while studying viticulture at the local technical college. I was included in the estate's consultants' meetings and encouraged to get across the technical side early. They gave me *Viticulture 1 & 2* (Coombe and Dry), *Sunlight into Wine* (Smart), and *Soil, Irrigation and Nutrition* (Phil Nicholas), and that's what opened my eyes to technical viticulture.
That experience carried me into a larger company in the Barossa Valley, focused solely on viticulture. There I built up hundreds of tractor hours across a range of equipment, in both old and young vineyards, and was involved in establishing and maintaining hundreds of hectares. It gave me real management experience, and it made me want to learn more. While based in the Barossa, I was also responsible for the company's cool-climate vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, working mainly with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Cool-climate viticulture was a different challenge again: the windows for getting tasks done are narrower, and the conditions are generally less forgiving.
Wanting to understand more of what was happening inside the vine itself, I gave up the day job and enrolled at the University of Adelaide, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Viticulture in 2006. While studying, I worked as a junior viticulture consultant with Di Davidson, one of Australia's leading viticulture consultants, and in Dr Peter Dry's viticulture laboratory as a research assistant to Dr Cassandra Collins and Dr Mardi Longbottom.
After graduating, I moved to New Zealand to work Waiheke Island's harvest and pruning season for Man O'War Wines. In late 2007 I moved to Melbourne, into the Yarra Valley. In 2008, Meristem Viticulture was founded, working across the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Strathbogie Ranges, both consulting and holding a home base as permanent viticulturist with Mac Forbes Wines. It was an exciting time to be in the Yarra Valley, with a wave of young producers pushing boundaries and challenging convention. Seven years with Mac Forbes pushed me to understand individual growing sites in real detail, following fruit from small parcels all the way through to single-vineyard bottlings, and being trusted as part of the blending and tasting team. That period remains a highlight of my career.
In 2014, with a young family, I moved back to South Australia, continuing to consult in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula while building a new client base in the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills, and further afield in Spain and Italy.
Wanting to go deeper again, I returned to the University of Adelaide under the mentorship of Dr Cassandra Collins to complete a doctorate in viticulture. My thesis investigated how grapevine age influences everything from vine growth to wine quality, based near my hometown in the Barossa and Eden Valleys, incorporating some of the world's oldest known Shiraz vines (over 170 years old). It was a multidisciplinary study: vine performance, grape chemical composition, sensory analysis, wine chemistry, sensory and metabolomic analysis, and vine genetic and epigenetic analysis. I was awarded the doctorate with Dean's Merit in 2017.
I kept consulting to leading winemakers and producers throughout the PhD, since the connection between vine and wine is what actually drives me. After completing it, I was offered the chance to live and work in Spain, overseeing viticulture for a family-owned winery with more than 170ha under vine across numerous parcels in north-eastern Catalonia. My role there covered all viticultural management, with a focus on vineyard and soil rejuvenation, replanting, and organic conversion of old vineyards in a distinctly Mediterranean environment.
In 2020 I returned home to South Australia, while continuing to consult in Europe. Based in the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley, I work with vineyards across South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia, along with clients in Spain, Italy and California. My advice and practical knowledge stay in steady demand, and I've built lasting relationships with a range of growers and wine businesses along the way.
I have a deep passion for viticulture and wine, and I'll keep chasing the opportunities and relationships that are honest, true, and genuinely challenging in this line of work.
Notable Clients include but not limited to
Adelina, Gentle Folk, Mac Forbes, Small Wonder, Wayfinder, Raj Parr-Phelan Farm, Scar of the Sea, Lady of the Sunshine, Moorooduc, Murdoch Hill, Tapanappa, Espelt-Anna Espelt, Sheehan Wines, Hugo Wines, and others.
Cheers,
Dylan
