Congratulations to Kris Godsall from Cloudy Bay, who became the 2026 Ormond Nurseries Marlborough Young Viticulturist of the Year on 28 May. The 24-year-old was thrilled to raise the trophy and delighted that his hard work had paid off. 

Congratulations also to Harry Watson from Berakah Vineyard Management, who came second, and Isaac Langley from Pecchenino Viticulture Services, who came third. The competition was tight at the top, and all the contestants gave it their all, whilst competing with great respect and support for each other.

Congratulations to Ruby McManaway from Yealands, Marlborough, who is the 2025 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year. Congratulations also to Anna Kelland from Constellation Brands, who is the 2025 Young Viticulturist of the Year. 

The winners were announced at the New Zealand Wine 2025 Celebration Dinner held at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre on Thursday, 28 August.

The Young Winemaker national finals were held on 26 August at Lincoln University, and the Young Viticulturist national finals were held at Greystone, Waipara, the following day.

Congratulations to Ruby McManaway from Yealands, who was announced as the 2025 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year following the competition held on 16 July at Marlborough Research Centre and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology campus in Blenheim.

Congratulations to Anna Kelland from Constellation Brands, who became the 2025 Marlborough Young Viticulturist of the Year on 29 May. This is the second consecutive year she has taken out the prestigious title. She is excited to represent Marlborough in the national finals again and determined to bring the national trophy home this year.   

Congratulations also to Laura Hammond from Babich, who came second, and Harry Watson from Berakah Vineyard Management, who came third.

Five people from three different sectors of the wine industry have been recognised with Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Awards for 2024.

Ben & Frances Wickham, of Ormond Nurseries, Rob Agnew, climate scientist, and Daniel & Adele Le Brun of No.1 Estate were all acknowledged with their awards at the Marlborough Wine Show Celebration Long Lunch, held on Friday.

Congratulations to Nick Lamain from VinLink who was announced the 2024 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year following the competition held on 31 July at MRC and NMIT in Blenheim.

Congratulations also goes to Ellie Hobbs from Rose Family Estate who came second and Ruby McManaway from Yealands who came third.

“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.

James had cut his oenological teeth with Corbans in Auckland and Gisborne, but found his people and place at Cloudy Bay when he started there in 1991. Experimentation was embraced, the work was “vital and free”, and his colleagues – including viticulturist Ivan Sutherland and winemaker Kevin Judd – were kindred spirits in crafting wines. “It was just a perfect bunch of people together,” says James, who was awarded a Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award in November last year, for his extraordinary contribution to the region’s wine industry. “If you had an idea, you just tried it out on a few barrels. You just did it. Which fits completely with how I feel. As soon as you start getting to, ‘we’ve always done it like that’, I feel like shooting myself.”

When Tessa Anderson raised the idea of a Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award, she never dreamed she would one day receive one.

“I would like to reiterate that it was for services, not for consumption,” she says with a characteristically warm laugh, having been recognised for 27 years telling extraordinary stories of the Marlborough wine industry – including as wine reporter at The Marlborough Express, a longstanding editor of Winepress magazine and Winegrower magazine, and the author of two books – Jane Hunter, Growing a Legacy, and 50 Years, 50 Stories, which was released this year to commemorate a half century of wine in the region.

August 2023 marks 50 years since the first vines were planted to launch the Marlborough wine industry. BRENDON BURNS looks back at some of the major challenges and monumental achievements over the past half century. These stories were first published in our Winepress Magazine in 2023.

Dave Pearce loved chess as a kid, which perhaps explains his habit of looking ahead before making a move.

It’s the kind of considered foresight that saw him and a handful of others launch the groundbreaking Screwcap Initiative in 2001, and made Grove Mill the world’s first carbon neutral winery in 2006, having already pioneered the use of a eucalypt woodlot for winery wastewater.

Years later Dave adopted the term “the bleeding edge” to describe the times people considered him “crazy” for bypassing the status quo. “I spent I don’t know how many years being ‘an idiot’ because I thought carbon zero was a good idea,” he says. “It’s great to be at the bleeding edge, but generally you bleed.”

Four pioneers of the Marlborough wine industry have been presented with Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Awards at a celebration dinner in Blenheim.

James Healy, Dave Pearce, Tessa Anderson and Murray Gibbons were recognised at The Marlborough Wine Celebration Evening, which also celebrated 50 years since the beginning of the modern Marlborough wine industry.

This year was the first year that four recipients have received the award in one year, each having demonstrated tireless dedication to the industry for the best part of five decades.

AFTER MORE than 40 years driving trucks, much of it transporting wine, Murray Gibbons is ready to hang up his keys. Murray never set out to be a truck driver, or a business owner for that matter, but when opportunity came knocking, he didn’t shy away. The only problem has been slowing down in an ever-expanding industry, he says. “I’m no businessman; just a truck driver who somehow ended up with a trucking business,” Murray says from ‘HQ’ – his tongue-in-cheek reference to the humble portacom tucked away on a corner site in Riverlands Industrial Estate, which houses operations for his company, Bulk Wine Distribution.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to leave the industry, or slow down, or downsize, but I’ve failed miserably every time,” the 67-year-old says. “Somehow I ended up buying land, more trucks, wine tankers then a tanker wash.” His work has adapted to meet the needs of an ever-evolving industry. “If there’s one thing that’s constant in the wine industry, it’s change,” Murray says.

Congratulations to Callum Haynes from Matua Wines who is the 2023 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year. The competition was held on 13th September and the winners were announced at the Awards Dinner the same evening.

Callum, 29, was thrilled to take out the title “I really wanted this and have worked hard to get here” he says.

ALLAN SCOTT took a punt on a new job in August 1973, joining 90 bewildered workers in the dry and dusty Brancott Valley. A few months later only a dozen of the team remained, toiling to plant Montana’s first Marlborough vineyard, with little idea of what they were doing or why.

“Having to carve out a whole new life I didn’t know about was probably one of the best decisions I made,” says the recipient of the 2022 Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognises his enormous contribution over the past 50 years.

“WHAT WILL your vineyard look like in 10 years with no intervention?” That’s the question Mark Allen likes to ask vineyard owners, given the risks of trunk disease and virus, and the opportunities of replanting. “Marlborough is in a huge transitional phase at the moment,” says Mark, who was awarded a Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award in late October, recognising his relentless commitment to viticulture over the past 35 years. “Now is the time to think about the future.”

Mark began his career in kiwifruit in Tauranga but was lured over to grape vines when his good friend and neighbour Morton Brown established Morton Estate Vineyards. His kiwifruit skillsets served him well in his new field, with soils and vines and canopy management key to the success of both crops, he says.

Congratulations to Alun Kilby from Marisco in Marlborough for becoming the 2022 Tonnellerie de Mercurey NZ Young Winemaker of the Year.

Alun, 28, is Production Winemaker at Marisco. He has worked in the New Zealand wine industry for 13 years from Auckland to Central Otago before settling in Marlborough and is thrilled to take out this prestigious title.

Congratulations to Alun Kilby from Marisco, who came became the 2022 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year. The competition was held on 21st September at MRC and the winners were announced at the Awards Dinner the same evening.

Congratulations to Tahryn Mason from Villa Maria in Marlborough, who became the 2022 Corteva Young Viticulturist of the Year. The National Final was held on 30 August at Indevin’s Bankhouse in Marlborough with the announcement made at the Awards Dinner the following evening.

Congratulations to Tahryn Mason from Villa Maria who became the 2022 Marlborough Corteva Young Viticulturist of the Year on 7 July at the competition held at Giesen House in Rapaura. He will now go through to the National Final which will also be held in Marlborough at the end of August.

When Dominic Pecchenino arrived at Matador Estate in 1993, Marlborough winegrowers were plagued by phylloxera and sceptical of plant science. Three decades on, the viticulturist has been recognised for his tireless work - using innovation, research and collegiality, to improve the way we grow wine.