A vine upbringing

Kati Kasza is pretty chuffed. Her father, Denis Kasza, has just been posthumously honoured by having Keith Stewart's recently published book, Chancers and Visionaries - which charts the history of the New Zealand wine industry and its colourful characters - dedicated to him.

As head of the natural skincare company Evolu, Kati's name is probably better known than that of her father, despite the important role he played in guiding the country's wines to greater things. She's overjoyed that his efforts are at last starting to be recognised, while acknowledging the debt she owes to him in providing inspiration on her own career path.

Arriving as a refugee from Hungary in 1950, Denis' qualifications as a plant physiologist and Montpellier-trained oenologist saw him swiftly appointed to fill a void at the wine research station at Te Kauwhata. According to Stewart's engaging exploration of the country's fledgling wine industry and its protagonists, it was while Denis was there that "he initiated fundamental advances to improve New Zealand wine and its potential for export".

At that time, New Zealand's fine wine culture was virtually non-existent. Wine was found on few tables and generally, what was made owed more of its less-than-exciting character to sugar and water rather than grapes.

Rather than being deterred by what he discovered in his newly adopted homeland, Denis industriously set about investigating ways to unlock the widely unrealised promise of New Zealand's grapes.

This he did through trialling different varieties to work out which best suited our conditions and encouraging growers to wait until their crop was properly ripe before picking and, consequently, cut back on the sugar that was once added liberally to our wines, notes Stewart.

In his next role, at McWilliams in Hawkes Bay, Denis went on to make some of the most drinkable table wines of the 1960s, such as the era's leading red blend, Bakano, while also making "the first high-class New Zealand wines" that Stewart credits as guiding "winemakers and wine drinkers towards the surge in excellence that would follow".

Sadly, Denis never lived to see the country's wines go on to achieve their full potential, dying of cancer in 1974, aged just 53. His contribution to New Zealand's modern wine world has also often been overlooked in favour of other pioneers of his day.

"He was very well respected, but our family was frustrated as he didn't get the recognition he deserved," explains Kati, who describes her father as working tirelessly on his mission. "We had no idea Keith was going to dedicate his book to him and were very moved by such an enormous gesture."

Kati has vivid childhood memories of working alongside her father.

"I spent many happy hours with my father in his lab and out in the vineyards checking on vines," she remembers. "I recall how excited I was when he'd let me taste the grape juice from the vats as it was beginning to ferment and he'd let me line up test tubes and pretend I was his assistant, helping him with his work.

"We'd also talk about what I wanted to do when I grew up and I recall mentioning how, even though I wasn't sure what I wanted to be, it needed to have something to do with plants," says Kati. "He was always encouraging and would take these conversations seriously, coming up with various possibilities that might interest me."

After a stint as a French teacher and an air hostess, Kati did eventually end up working with plants, when she founded Evolu 12 years ago. The company's products use local plant oils and botanical extracts.

Kati also acknowledges the key role played by her mother in encouraging her into this area; she has a background in horticulture and herbs. "She wanted my father to buy his own vineyard and realise his dreams for himself, but due to his health this wasn't possible."

In releasing her childhood ambitions, Kati can clearly perceive the influence of her father in her own approach. "I learned from him the importance of using the best-quality ingredients, which is true whether it's cabernet sauvignon or moisturising cream. The art of blending was another thing he taught me to appreciate."

Kati is now doing work of her own with grapes, developing products that use grapeseed oil.

"I'm now really interested in the by-products of New Zealand fruits, from grape seeds and fruit skins," she explains.

"The great thing about fruit grown in New Zealand is that the high levels of light and UV mean high levels of natural antioxidants, such as vitamin C and gallic acid, to name a couple.

"There's always something new to research and the availability of natural ingredients is so much more developed nowadays."

Far more developed too, than when her father was alive, is the modern wine industry for which he helped lay the foundations. From something fairly insignificant producing largely inferior products, it now contributes more than $1.5 billion to the county's GDP and makes wines that are lauded across the globe.

If her father was alive to see this transformed industry, Kati feels "he would be extremely interested and very much involved".

And what of her own achievements? "I think he would be fascinated and proud of what I'm doing now - although maybe he'd be a little disappointed that I hadn't done a degree in science.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him - his influence, not just in the area of wine, remains very powerful.

"It's exciting to see New Zealand develop to where it is now, but sad that he didn't get to see it."

* Keith Stewart's book, Chancers and Visionaries: A History of Wine in New Zealand is published by the Godwit imprint of Random House and priced $49.99. More information about Evolu and its products can be found at evolu.co.nz