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Meet The Makers

Meet Margot Best Assistant Winemaker at Mt Difficulty

Meet Margot Best Assistant Winemaker at Mt Difficulty
Margot Best has been an important member of the Mt Difficulty winemaking team for three years and her new role as Assistant Winemaker reflects her knowledge, hard work and commitment to the continued evolution of the winery. With several vintages under her belt in New Zealand and around the world, including three years based in France, Margot is looking forward to her next chapter with Mt Difficulty. Meet Margot Best Assistant Winemaker at Mt Difficulty Continue reading

Meet the Marlborough Viticulture Team

Meet the Marlborough Viticulture Team
Meet the Marlborough Viticulture TeamVariety is the spice of life! We have vineyards spread far and wide across the Marlborough region combining 6 different varieties that our team of three look after. This geographical and varietal diversity is what gets the Viticulture team out of bed in the morning, with no two sites the same. Continue reading

Meet Meet Julianna Patterson - Assistant Winemaker at Grove Mill

Meet Meet Julianna Patterson - Assistant Winemaker at Grove Mill

Julianna Patterson Assistant Winemaker at Grove Mill.

Jules is the Assistant Winemaker at Grove Mill. Born and bred in Dunedin, Jules joined the Air Force before switching to pursue a career in winemaking and has never looked back. Her heart lies in the winery where she loves the science involved in crafting wine and seeing them make it into bottle. Jules has previously worked at Vavasour Wines as well as Cloudy Bay, Giesen, Sacred Hill and Wenzel Wines in Austria. A big fan of the outdoors, Jules joined the Grove Mill team in 2020. Equally passionate about nurturing the wetland beside the Winery, we were delighted to welcome her onto our team. Grove Mill Pinot Noir is Jules’s pick of the bunch because of its many layers and stunning floral flavours and aromas. When not spending time with her family, Jules is out riding her Yamaha YZ125x mixing it up with motocross racing and trail riding.

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Meet Tom Turner – Assistant Winemaker at Vavasour

Meet Tom Turner – Assistant Winemaker at Vavasour

Tom joined the Vavasour team in 2019. Originally from North Canterbury, his interest in wine began when his family planted a small vineyard while he was completing a BCom at Canterbury University. Tom has since travelled and worked in wine regions in France, Australia, United States and South America. Tom completed a Graduate Diploma in Oenology and Viticulture at Lincoln University passing with distinction.

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Meet Mat Duncan – Vineyard Manager and Grower Liaison in Marlborough

Meet Mat Duncan – Vineyard Manager and Grower Liaison in Marlborough

Meet Mat Duncan – Vineyard Manager and Grower Liaison in Marlborough

Raised on an orchard with grapes, avocados and kiwifruit in Northern Hawkes Bay, a fortuitous move in 1994 lead Mat’s family to Marlborough to manage an up and coming Viticultural development. Mat has been involved in the wine industry ever since, and has been managing our vineyards since he began with the company in 2007. Since 2016 he has also taken on the role of Grower Liaison for Grove Mill and Vavasour. When Mat isn’t diligently working in the vineyards, you can find him out snow or water skiing, playing cricket, or enjoying time with his wife and three children.

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Meet Esme Holdsworth – Winemaker at Grove Mill

Meet Esme Holdsworth – Winemaker at Grove Mill

Meet Esmé Holdsworth – Winemaker at Grove Mill

Born and raised in beautiful Nelson, Esmé’s passion for wine originally sparked from her love for artisan food after spending her summers at school and University working in restaurant kitchens. After attending Otago University Esmé went on to earn a post graduate diploma in viticulture and oenology from Lincoln University. When a chance came to work at the Marlborough winery, Esmé leapt at it. Ask Esmé what she loves most about winemaking and she’ll say the blend of science and art. She loves that it’s such a team environment in every part of the business – from vineyard to logistics – it is essential to making great wine that people love to drink around the world.

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Meet Susan Van Der Pol – Winemaker at Vavasour

Meet Susan Van Der Pol – Winemaker at Vavasour
Susan Van Der Pol was raised in Blenheim, the centre of Marlborough’s wine industry. In 2002, she was awarded a diploma in Viticulture & Wine Production from Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. Susan then spent two vintages overseas before returning to New Zealand and joining the Vavasour team as Assistant Winemaker in 2011. Continue reading

Meet Greg Lane Chief Winemaker at Mt Difficulty

Meet Greg Lane Chief Winemaker at Mt Difficulty
A South Australian local, Greg grew up surrounded by wine culture from day dot and earned a Bachelor of Oenology from the University of Adelaide with First Class Honours. From there he honed his craft at Shaw and Smith in Adelaide, France, Italy and the United States before being drawn back to Marlborough to take up the reigns at Grove Mill. Greg has most recently been the winemaker at Central Otago winery, Amisfield, before becoming Chief Winemaker at Mt Difficulty in 2021.

Highly regarded amongst the Winemaking community, Greg was named New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year in 2018 and is keen to continue establishing Mt Difficulty wines as true benchmarks of Central Otago, and indeed new world Pinot Noir.

When off duty, Greg loves cooking, tramping and fishing around New Zealand. Continue reading

Meet Stu Marfell – Chief Winemaker in Marlborough

Meet Stu Marfell – Chief Winemaker in Marlborough
Meet Stu Marfell – Chief Winemaker in Marlborough.

Born and raised in the Awatere, as a child our Winemaker Stu witnessed an exciting transformation from quiet pastoral farming to grape growing as Vavasour forged a new frontier in winemaking. As a nine-year-old he was at the winery for that first revelatory vintage of 1989 – and caught the winemaking bug. Continue reading

Meet Rachel Hall – Head Distiller at Lighthouse Gin

Meet Rachel Hall – Head Distiller at Lighthouse Gin
Meet Rachel – she is all things Lighthouse Gin.

From gathering botanicals, twice distilling, tasting every batch for consistency, labelling and bottling, Rachel is our custodian of the Lighthouse tradition – our Lighthouse Keeper if you will.

The first female Head Distiller in New Zealand, Rachel has been crafting Lighthouse by hand since 2014. She first joined the Lighthouse team back in 2010 and learnt her craft from Neil Catherall, our founder and Master distiller.  Continue reading
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