He hadn't picked up a ball for three four months, sitting out a good part of the domestic season for the Central Districts Stags in the four-day Plunket Shield campaign this summer.
A grinning Wheeler revealed when he finished school in Blenheim a friend's wine-making brother ran Yealands Estate where he was involved with four harvests.
"I would do the cricket season, join in to the harvest and then do some training in between ... ," he said, putting the vineyard round on the backburner for a coupe of years after moving to Napier to carve a niche in domestic cricket.
No doubt, Wheeler sees a career opportunity at Craggy Range and hopes to pursue it in the future "with a cool bunch there".
Equally cool was fellow CD debutant Tom Bruce taking his catch for his first T20 international wicket as well as playing at his "home away from home".
"We're pretty good mates so a mark for him to take that [catch] as well because it would have soothed his nerves before he had to go out there to bat."
Bruce, he said, was fine after captain Kane Williamson ran him out although the boys had given him a bit of ribbing."
"No there's nothing you can do about, it's one of those things. He's pretty easy going and was stoked, like I was, to get that first game out of the way and the family's pretty stoked we got the first win."
Williamson, who spearheaded the six-wicket victory over the Banga Boys, had apologised for his part in the mix up.
"It's been a long and the first game at home, which is pretty cool," he said with grin, relishing the cheers from the grandstands and embankment rather than copping abuse at the six ODIs during the tour of England, Zimbabwe and South Africa last year.
His nerves jangled but new-ball seamer loosened the keys to the taut strings to find some beautiful rhythm in his routine in his first three overs that even speed merchant Lockie Ferguson fed off.
"It's nice to know the first ball came out and swung a little bit so it was a good feeling then I was able to work into it from there."
Despite four wides, Wheeler was happy in pushing his case to that wide white line at the death in executing the wide yorker.
"All in all, I was happy to be just hit for the one boundary in the last over and it was nice to get that three [overs] up on the top and the wicket we were hunting at the start."
He reflected on brother Joseph Wheeler, 29, a former Highlanders rugby player who "was all over the place" on social media on learning of his Black Caps' T20 debut.
The Christchurch-born lock, who plies his trade professionally for Suntory Sungoliath in Japan, was in the middle of Christmas dinner with other expatriates, including 2011 World Cup All Blacks' SOS conversion pivot, Stephen Donald, when Wheeler dropped a line to inform him of his return to the international arena.
"He [Joseph] was really excited. He loves his rugby but he loves his cricket as well. He and Steve get on pretty well and they were toasting a few beers over the Skype so it was good fun."
However the aroma, blend and colour - to steal wine terminology to describe the ABCs of cricketing heaven - belong to the bloke the call Wheels in summer and the quality of that vintage will only get better with age one would think.
