OPINION: New Zealand’s soils and climate make our wine industry extraordinary. But it is the people behind the vines and wines who make it Altogether Unique.<\/p>\n
This is an industry powered by passion, as epitomised by the 2026 New Zealand Winegrowers Fellows.<\/p>\n
The late, great Sir Sam Neill’s love of Central Otago, Pinot Noir and New Zealand wine saw him champion all three on the global stage.<\/p>\n
Kevin Judd’s parallel careers in the “art” of winemaking and photography have changed the way the world sees our wine, while Lynnette Hudson’s decades-long “obsession” with Pinot Noir has spilled into an enduring dedication to sharing knowledge.<\/p>\n
Philip Gregan’s relentless work behind the scenes over more than four decades has helped enable the industry’s stellar growth and constant evolution, while Rex Sunde stepped away from a successful but uncomfortable career in agrichemicals to work on the other side of the equation, helping winegrowers refine their use of sprays.<\/p>\n
Their stories differ, but each of the Fellows have brought relentless energy and generosity to New Zealand wine.<\/p>\n
Passion is also at the heart of the Focus Feature, looking at opportunities on the global stage.<\/p>\n
At a difficult time for global wine sales, Kat Pickford talks to companies finding grounds for cautious optimism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Opportunities remain for New Zealand wine, but seizing them takes persistence, strong relationships and time spent understanding individual markets.<\/p>\n
The upcoming NZW 2026 Wine Business Forum will delve into those opportunities including insights into emerging markets like South Korea and India.<\/p>\n
This edition comes out as Anishka Jelicich joins New Zealand Winegrowers as Chief Executive Officer, following Philip’s retirement.<\/p>\n
Anishka brings more than two decades of leadership experience across New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe, including extensive experience in the global wine industry.<\/p>\n
She also brings a deep connection to New Zealand, and to the people and places that make its world-renowned wines.<\/p>\n
Sophie Preece<\/p>\n
EDITOR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OPINION: New Zealand’s soils and climate make our wine industry extraordinary. But it is the people behind the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273867,111,273868,56356,273870,273864,43,139,69,273865,273866,273869],"class_list":["post-556943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-anishka-jelicich-ceo","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-pinot-noir","tag-new-zealand-wine-exports","tag-new-zealand-wine-global-markets","tag-new-zealand-winegrowers-fellows-2026","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nz-wine-industry-news","tag-nzw-wine-business-forum","tag-sam-neill-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}