Brian Shaw and Alan Brady. Photo Credit: Rachael McKenna.

When two Northern Irishmen born 50 years and 50-ish kilometres apart from each other fall for the same beguiling grape, 20,000km from home in Central Otago, the only decent thing to do is become firm friends. Claire Finlayson talks to Alan Brady and Brian Shaw about a company that’s name is a nod to their collective pluck.

James Healy

"The Marlborough wine industry has been extremely kind to me," says James Healy, 32 years after he pulled up in an iridescent green Holden Premier packed with his family and belongings.

Sukhpreet Kaur Gill

Sukhpreet Kaur Gill is inspired by the amazing things that you can do with chemistry, including studies that can be applied in real life – such as wine.

Wilco Lam

Wilco Lam is sitting in the sun dappled courtyard at the Porters Pinot winery on the main road into Martinborough as we talk about his life in wine, travel, and walking, and how a connection between all three led him to New Zealand.

Cath Archer

For young wine professionals who have been mentored by Cath Archer, it is her wine industry knowledge, leadership expertise and branding experience that impresses them the most. But it was food that led her to a career in wine.

Tristan van Schalkwyk

Tristan van Schalkwyk was already studying viticulture when Ford vs Ferrari hit cinemas in 2019. But watching it convinced him he’d chosen the right field, having considered a wide array of careers and courses on leaving school.

Photo to left, Phyll Pattie and Clive Paton.

Five 'Pinot Pioneers' have been recognised for their groundbreaking work in Martinborough, helping transform a rural farming community in today's "dynamic and vibrant vine village".

Jack Muir

Jack Muir has adapted a mathematical model designed for the dairy industry to help him model the precipitation of calcium tartrate crystals in wine.

When Judy and Neal Ibbotson met in the late 1960s, he was a farm adviser, she was a dental nurse, and they were each dating the other's flatmate. "We swapped partners," explains Neal. "It was the best thing we ever did."

In the lead up to the Young Viticulturist of the Year National Final 2023, we meet the regional finalists.

The newly elected Director General of the Organisation of Vine and Wine takes up his role on 1 January 2024, 100 years after the organisation began. We ask Dr John Barker about a career that has married his love of law and of wine, and about the significance of having a New Zealander at the helm of the OIV.

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