Double life: Actor Sam Neill is equally at home in front of the cameras or planting vines

Actor and winemaker Sam Neill says “timing is everything. Ask a comedian. Or a winemaker. Picking today could have an entirely different result from picking tomorrow. Waiting that split second longer is the difference between a joke that works, and one that falls on its face; or a wine that is either good or outrageously sublime”.

Known for his roles in movies such as The Piano, Jurassic Park and The Hunt for Red October, when he is not in front of the camera, Neill can be found enjoying life on one of his vineyards in New Zealand planting and tending vines, hanging with his staff and entertaining friends, and of course, drinking wine.

“I planted one little vineyard in 1993 and now, today, somehow, it’s four little vineyards. Called Two Paddocks, oddly enough,” says the 69-year-old. Not so odd though, as the name was derived from his friend and fellow filmmaker Roger Donaldson planting vines in neighbouring paddocks at the same time. Donaldson’s “proved to be a slow starter, which meant we had to go it on our own”, Neill says.