Philip Gregan, New Zealand Winegrowers CEO, has announced plans to retire in June 2026, having first joined the industry in 1983.
Fabian Yukich, chair of The New Zealand Winegrowers Board, said Gregan’s tenure reflected a “lifetime of unwavering commitment and immense contribution”.
He said Gregan informed the Board of his intentions to retire some time ago, and today’s announcement gives sufficient time to appoint a suitably qualified successor.
Reflecting on his career, Gregan said the biggest highlight was the privilege of working with New Zealand’s growers and winemakers.
“Their passionate commitment to everything that New Zealand wine stands for continues to inspire me.” he said. “It has been a privilege to work on behalf of the wine industry for so long. I look forward to handing over to my successor so they can help the industry further build its reputation and global success in the years ahead.”
Looking back
Gregan’s career in wine took off just after he left university in 1983, when he joined the Wine Institute as the organisation’s research officer.
In the early ‘90s, he was appointed CEO of the Wine Institute playing an integral role in New Zealand wine’s international trade negotiations, which resulted in the formation of the World Wine Trade Group.
In 2002, the Wine Institute merged with the Grape Growers Council to form New Zealand Winegrowers Inc and Gregan was appointed CEO of the new organisation.
Looking back, Gregan called the ‘90s an “exciting time” for New Zealand exporters. “At that time 99% of New Zealand wine was produced for a domestic market. Today, we are a global wine success story, with over 90% of wine heading to overseas markets and exports worth over US$2 billion per year,” he said. “Our wines now help define the reputation of New Zealand as a country around the world”.
New Zealand’s success story
In 2023, Gregan shared his expertise with the drinks business, discussing sustainability and exports. He explained that New Zealand’s early decision to go green, long before consumers and the industry demanded it, was in fact born out of necessity.
“We didn’t have a lot of oil, and we’re an island nation, situated more than 2,000km from anywhere else. So we needed to use what was readily available to us. We have volcanoes, so we can produce a lot of geothermal energy, and we get a lot of westerly winds in New Zealand, so wind turbines were an obvious solution.”
But, he pointed out that as a relatively young wine-producing country, New Zealand winemakers are to some extent still in the ‘suck it and see’ phase. “We don’t have 400 or 500 years of experience in the industry,” he added. ”We’re still learning, and when you’re learning you need to be able to experiment and try different ways of doing things.”
Related news
Hors Bordeaux: Australia and New Zealand (reds)