Altogether Unique

Nine wine professionals from around the world have been chosen for the New Zealand Sommit event in February. After a six-year hiatus, Cameron Douglas MS and Stephen Wong MW will again host this flagship New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) event, to be held in Gisborne following Pinot Noir New Zealand 2025 in Christchurch. The programme offers an unforgettable New Zealand wine experience, discovering the regions, varieties, landscapes and personalities that make our wine so distinctily New Zealand.

Every Sommit event presents a number of diverse and highly-focused flights, targeted to current topics of interest in the international on-premise. The event is designed as a closed-door, sommelier-exclusive discussin and debate, based on flights of wine that adhere to a focused narrative, and encourage conversation about New Zealand wine as a whole.

Sommeliers tasting at the Northland Sommit in 2019.

The upcoming programme is an intensive masterclass covering Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from limestone; site-specific wines (across Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Albariño, Chenin, Pinot and Syrah); the ageability of Bordeaux Blends; and smaller-planted varieties. The Welcome Dinner will showcase dedicated flights of sparkling, Riesling and Albariño.

The nine 2025 sommeliers will joing the ranks of 114 Sommit attendees, from 18 countries, who have returned to their home nations with a deeper understanding of lesser-known aspects of New Zealand wine. Full bios of the attendees can be found at nzwine.com/en/trade/tradeevents/sommit/the-2025-attendees.

Tasting at the New Zealand Wine Stand at Australia's Wine List of the Year.

Australia's Wine List of the Year

NZW continues to work to strengthen New Zealand's premium reputation in Australia, and our Australia Market Manager, Cathy Wansink, presented the inaugural award for The Best Listing of New Zealand Wines at Australia's Wine List of the Year Awards in Melbourne in October. Acclaimed restaurant Quay, in Sydney, won the award, from which prior Sommit participants Amanda Yallop (Wine Director for Fink Group) and Shanteh Wale (previously Quay's Head Sommelier, now freelancing and writing for Wine Pilot and Halliday) hail. More than 350 owners and employees of Australia's best on-premise venues attended. As a build up to Pinot Noir New Zealand 2025, NZW poured four Pinots for guests at the walkaround tasting that preceded the announcements.

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Jane Skilton MW, Beth Forrest & Ben Weaver present to New York trade & media.

United States - New York City

NZW conducted a signature masterclass in New York city in September, with a theme of New Zealand Reds, led by Jane Skilton MW and Marlborough-based winemakers Beth Forrest from Forrest Wines and Ben Weaver from Churton Wines. A select group of influential trade and media attended, including some of New York’s top sommeliers, from establishments like Eleven Maddison Park and Coqodaq. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with one sommelier highlighting the speakers’ depth of knowledge, describing the session as “engaging, entertaining, with wonderful insight on the future of New Zealand wines”. A self-pour tasting of New Zealand Whites was held after the masterclass, alongside a lunch catered by one of New York’s certified carbon neutral companies. Finally, attendees participated in a blind tasting challenge, with the top participant winning a magnum of New Zealand Pinot Noir and other New Zealand prizes. Overall, the event left a highly favourable impression, underscoring the appeal of New Zealand wines and solidifying industry connections.

Canada - Vancouver and Victoria

Jane continued her New Zealand wine tour with Chardonnay presentations in Victoria and Vancouver. In Vancouver, she hosted separate sessions for British Columbia Liquor Store (BCLS) product consultants, and top local trade members, spanning sommeliers, wine buyers, and media. “Though we’re privileged to hear a lot of amazing wine professionals in Vancouver at seminars, it was such a nice treat to have one of the most qualified people in the world to talk about the subject,” said one attendee. “The wines shown were stellar as well.” Jane also conducted a specialised session for BCLS buyers, focusing on a line-up of wines submitted by local agents, and available for purchase in the next tender. All sessions were met with enthusiasm, with attendees praising the elegance, complexity and price to value proposition of the wines.

Felicity Turner is Education Manager at NZW