As the second youngest of six kids, and the fourth generation on the land, Rippon's Nick Mills talks of his family's connection to a "ridiculously special place".
Dr Richard Smart began shining a light on grape growing in the late 1960s, increasingly fascinated by how sunlight interception by vineyards impacted yields and fruit quality.
New Zealand's wine industry has undergone a significant shift over the past few decades, with increasing numbers of talented women found throughout vineyards and wineries. In celebration of International Women's Day on 8 March, Emma Jenkins MW speaks to five inspiring winemakers who have helped pave the way, thanks to perserverance, passion, and some of New Zealand's best wines.
The first thing Tanya Pouwhare does when someone seeking employment steps through her doorway is print out the 'Know Your Rights' sheet from the New Zealand Employment Guide.
It took a hole in the ground and a slurp from the hose to convince Ben and Frances Wickham to buy a block of land on the outskirts of Blenheim.
Joe Stenberg was studying physiology at Auckland University when he opted for an elective paper in viticulture, delving a little deeper into the wines he was pouring in his part time bar job.
Nick McArthur grew up working the land on his family’s market garden in Outram, literally hands on in horticulture. By his early teens he was up at 4am each Saturday morning, travelling to Dunedin to help his parents sell their vegetables and berries at the Dunedin Farmers’ Market.
It’s a blue-skied, post-frost Central Otago morning as Owen Calvert drives through Bendigo and up to Tarras.
It says a lot about Paul Mooney that the most satisfying vintage in more than four decades at Mission Estate was the cyclonestruck 2023 season.
Watching her parents and their friends at dinner parties helped launch Kate Curd into a winemaking career she loves.
Grant Taylor’s winemaking career owes its genesis to a bunch of pesky worms. Without them, the fruit on his family’s apple tree might never have yielded such formative, jeopardy-rich beverage adventures.
From commercial salmon fisherman, camel trainer and philosophy academic, to wine writer, illustrator and sought-after speaker, is one of the less common career trajectories.
In the lead up to the Young Viticulturist of the Year National Final 2024, we meet the national finalists from around the country.
Jane Cooper has been Chair of Judges for The National Wine Awards of Aotearoa New Zealand since its launch in 2022.
Jane Cooper has a soft spot for wines with a point of difference, and there is no shortage of that in her brand Alexia, at home in the heart of Greytown.
Growing up in an English council estate, Aaron Jay had a simple life plan – join the army, earn some money, get ahead.
A self-confessed “nerd” with a penchant for policy and a passion for sociology has been recognised for his commitment to New Zealand’s wine industry.
When Nick Hoskins took up an apprenticeship with the Wellington Parks Department aged 17, he was simply keen on a job outdoors.
For services to winemaking
Nestled in the heart of Marlborough’s wine industry, with the likes of Dog Point, Te Whare Ra and Greywacke on its doorstep, Arbour has spent the past nine years delivering extraordinary dishes and a carefully curated selection of wines. Awarded Two Hats by the Cuisine Good Food Awards, which also named it Best Regional Restaurant in New Zealand in 2022, Arbour has attracted the devotion of many in New Zealand’s wine industry. Cofounder and owner Liz Buttimore talks of a labour of love.
What started as a conversation with her antenatal group has grown into a successful wellbeing business for Michelle Morpeth, and one she balances with her wine sales career at Central Otago’s Wooing Tree.
Capturing Sir George Fistonich in a few pages seems a fool’s errand.
Dr Jo Burzynska’s senses must cheer loudly when she falls asleep each night, for that’s the only time they get a break from their heavy workload.
When Dario Jerez started work as a vintage cellar hand at Indevin, he expected to stay a few months.
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