Winemaker Interviews

Name: Johannes Leeb Currently: Winemaker/Owner of Weingut Drexler-Leeb Website: www.drexler-leeb.at (on the outskirts of Vienna) If you want to visit us, just drop us an email: [email protected] Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry, and how your career developed? Our roots in Perchtoldsdorf stretch back to 1699, a time when […]

Name: Silke Mayr Currently: Winemaker/Owner of Vorspannhof Mayr Winery & Buchegger Winery Website: www.vorspannhof.at www.buchegger.at Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry, and how your career developed? I grew up in a family of winemakers - my father set the course for quality viticulture ... we have always had an […]

Name: Bernard Duseigneur Currently: Winemaker/Owner of Domaine Duseigneur Website: www.domaineduseigneur.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am the fifth generation of wine maker in my family. But I started my career as a banker and only got back to my roots and […]

Name: Hermann Seifried Currently: Winemaker of Seifried Estate (right) Website: www.seifried.co.nz Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Hermann studied Obstbau at Silberberg in the Steiermark as a teenager. He enjoyed the grape aspects of this course so went onto to study viticulture and […]

Name: Rita Ferreira Marques Currently: Oenologist of Conceito Website: www.conceito.com.pt/index.php Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I started by studying mechanical engineering, but was quickly fed up with my studies, so decided to take on winemaking. Already in mind was my family heritage, […]

Name: Nick Haselgrove Currently: Winemaker & Managing Director Website: http://www.haselgrovevignerons.com   Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am a 3rd generation winemaker. My grandfather, Ron Haselgrove OBE was one of the modern day industry’s great innovators at Mildara Winery and had a huge […]

Name: Matt Day Currently: Winemaker of Klein Constantia Website: www.kleinconstantia.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? The two main factors that developed my love for wine were my Grandfather and a bottle of Rustenberg John X Merriman. My Grandfather taught all things great […]

Name: Larry McKenna Currently: Winemaker at Escarpment Website: www.escarpment.co.nz Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I developed an interest in Agriculture from a very early age. My father had a wine cellar and wine was always the beverage of choice at family occasions […]

Name: Philipp Wittmann Currently: Winemaker at Weingut Wittmann Website: www.weingutwittmann.de Qustions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I'm growing up in a wine family, so the path into the business was always set. What is your philosophy to making wine and viticulture? I believe […]

Name: Luke O'Cuinneagain Currently: Winemaker of Glenelly Estate Website: www.glenellyestate.com/home.html Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? It was my brother who introduced me to the world of wine and started my interest. When I finished High School I was actually heading off to […]

Name: Nicolas Frauer Currently: Winemaker at Weingut Juliusspital Website: www.juliusspital.de/weingut Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was infected by the wine virus during a language trip to Avignon at the age of 16. In the following years I read a lot about […]

Name: Ben Riggs Currently: Director at McLaren Vintners Pty Ltd Website: www.mrriggs.com.au, www.mclarenvintners.com.au Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Well I’m not entirely sure but at about 13 or 14 I decided that’s what I wanted to do I think driven by my […]

Name: Philipp Grassl Currently: Winemaker at Weingut Philipp Grassl Website: www.weingut-grassl.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born into a long tradition wine-family, the winery existed as a mixed farm for almost 3 centuries, but wine always had a big importance […]

Name: Jorge Moreira Currently: Oenologist at Quinta de la Rosa, Poeira & Real Companhia Velha Website: www.quintadelarosa.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I studied Enology in the university of Tras-os Montes at Alto Douro and started working in Real Companhia Velha in […]

Name: Rodrigo Arizu Currently: CEO & Owner of Vina Alicia & Luigi Bosca Website: www.vinaalicia.com & www.luigibosca.com.ar Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Well, first of all, we have more than 400 years in winemaking tradition, because my ancestors who are Spanish (Navarra), from […]

Name: Moritz Haidle Currently: Junior Winemaker at Weingut Karl Haidle Website: www.weingut-karl-haidle.de Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? When I was a teenager I wanted to become a car designer. I wasn’t interested in wine at all. But at the same time I […]

Name: Gareth King Currently: Viticulturist at Felton Road Website: www.feltonroad.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up on an orchard and farm, studied horticulture and love growing things. The opportunity to manage the vineyards at Felton Road 14 years ago was […]

Name: Mariano Garcia Currently: Winemaker at Mauro, Maurodos and Aalto Website: www.bodegasmauro.com www.aalto.es www.bodegasanroman.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born, grew up and lived on an historical winegrowing estate called Vega Sicilia, which built my character and marked my passion […]

Name: Rod MacIvor Currently: Winemaker of Marsden Estate Website: www.marsdenestate.co.nz Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? We decided to plant grapes in 1993 after tasting Northland wines from Okahu and what was then know as Continental. Both Cindy and I have always enjoyed wine […]

Name: Philippe Debrus Currently: Winemaker for Botalcura Website: www.botalcura.cl Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born in wine family in the Languedoc region. Instead of bringing the grape to the cooperative winery, my grandfather build a winery in the tractor hangar, […]

Name: Arianna Occhipinti Currently: Winemaker & Owner Website: http://www.agricolaocchipinti.it/ Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I personally have started get involved in wine at 16-17 years old, going occasionally to visit my uncle. In the next years the desire to study viticulture and […]

Name: Francesco Marone Cinzano Currently: General Manager Website: www.coldorcia.it – Italy www.caliboro.com/ingles/francesco.htm - Chile Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born in the wine industry. Seeing my name on bottles of Vermouth and sparkling wines was part of my childhood. Eventually […]

Name: Gunther Schultz Currently: Winemaker at Tamboerskloof Website: www.kleinood.com/wines/ Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am from a family of 5 boys. My father was a school headmaster and his field of expertise was Botany - 4 of us 5 became involved in […]

Name: Johannes Selbach Currently: Winemaker at Selbach-Oster Website: www.selbach-oster.de Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born into it. My family has been engaged in the wine business since AD 1600. As a teenager, I detested the "slave" labor in the vineyards but […]

Name: Paola Medina Sheldon Currently: Winemaker at Bodegas Williams & Humbert Website: www.williams-humbert.com/en/?age-verified=36f1fef63d Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I graduated in Chemistry, Enology and Viticulture at the universities of Granada, Cádiz and Madrid. My professional life started far from Jerez, in Ciudad […]

Name: Marco Pallanti Currently: Winemaker of Castello di Ama Website: www.castellodiama.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I have studied University of Agriculture in Florence (unfortunately at that time a faculty of Oenology didn't exist in Italy). Before I commenced working at Castello […]

Name: Kirk Venge Currently: Winemaker at Venge Vineyards Website: www.vengevineyards.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up in my family’s cellar at Saddleback Cellars in Oakville, Napa Valley. Learning how to make wine at an early age inspired me to attend […]

Name: Philip Woollaston Currently: Director of Woollaston Website: www.woollaston.co.nz   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I have been interested in wine all my adult life – at least as a consumer. On our return to New Zealand in the early 1990s from […]

Name: Raimund Prüm Currently: Oenologist-GM at Weingut S.A.Prüm Website: www.sapruem.com/startpage.php   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? It's been quite a while since I assumed the way to the wine world. In 1968, the whole thing with a normal apprenticeship in the State […]

Name: Callie Louw Currently: Winemaker Website: www.porseleinberg.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Wanted to become a doctor but did not turn out to be a student, so I studied Bsc viti viniculture at Stellenbosch. After graduating in 2000 I travelled to france, […]

Name: Lionel Gourgue Currently: Enologist at Vinedos Alonso del Yerro Website: www.vay.es Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up in Bordeaux where the wine is in the air… I studied there and learned how to make wine. Then I started to […]

Name: Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini Currently: Winemaker & Oenologist of Altesino, Borgo Scopeto, Caparzo, Doga delle Clavule Website: www.altesino.it/ita/azienda.php www.borgoscopeto.com/en/azienda.php www.caparzo.it/en/ www.dogadelleclavule.com/en/vigneti.php Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My family was not doing wine. I got into wine business after so many other different […]

Name: Jean-Pierre Marty Currently: General Manager at Chateau Talbot Website: www.chateau-talbot.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am the third generation of winemaker in my family and when I finished my studies as agronomist engineer and oenologist I went abroad in […]

Name: Michael Malat Currently: Winemaker at Malat Winery Website: www.malat.at Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born into a “wine family”. The family estate which I am now running was established in 1722; I took it over from my parents in […]

Name: Hätsch Kalberer Currently: Winemaker at Fromm Winery Website: www.frommwinery.co.nz Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? A long story short. While still living in Switzerland I had a wine cellar well before a driver’s licence. Wine was my hobby besides travelling (hitchhiking in […]

Name: Bruce Nicholson Currently: Winemaker at Inniskillin Website: www.inniskillin.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I got into the wine industry after graduating University in applied science. Being a home winemaker I applied for employment at a local winery. I was hired worked […]

Name: Elisabetta Foradori Currently: Winemaker at Azienda Agricola Elisabetta Foradori Website: www.elisabettaforadori.com Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? It is family history, I got into wine when I was 19 and my father died. My life into the wine world was and is […]

Name: Daniela Gillmore Currently: Viticulturist at Gillmore Winery & Vineyards Website: www.gillmore.cl Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was grown up on a vineyard, working all the summers, and I always love to be in contact with nature, animals and plants What […]

Name: Clemens Busch Currently: Winemaker Website: www.clemens-busch.de/home.html Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? It's an old tradition in our family. Weingut Busch was founded by my grand-grandfather in 1802, but it was much smaller than today. I started in 1975, and in between […]

Name: Alex Starey Currently: in charge of the vineyards and of making the Keermont Estate’s wines. Website:  www.keermont.co.za Questions: What is your philosophy to making wine and viticulture? I am terroir crazy. I love the concept of different soils and vineyard sights expressing themselves differently in wines. I therefore believe in as little artificial interference […]

Name: Sam Lindo Currently: Winemaker at Camel Valley Wines Website: www.camelvalley.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My father planted a vineyard in 1989 and I joined in when I was old enough. What is your philosophy to making wine and viticulture? […]

Name: Ernst & Herbert Triebaumer (Father & Son) Country: Austria Currently: Winemakers Website: www.triebaumer.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed Trough 300 years of family tradition and by luck, thoughtfulness, trial and error, and always being ready to learn. (Herbert Triebaumer) I […]

Name: Rui Madeira Country: Portugal Currently: Oenologist at Rui Roboredo Madeira Website: www.ruimadeira.pt/pt   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My family, both from my mother and my father have properties in the Douro Superior, it was a question of passion, for the […]

Name: Chiara Lungarotti (right) Country: Italy Currently: General Manager at Lungarotti Estate Website: www.lungarotti.it   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up with the passion for winemaking since I was a little child, when my father would bring me walking among […]

Name: Daniel Le Brun Country: New Zealand Currently: General Manager & Champagne maker Website: www.no1familyestate.co.nz  & www.daniellebrun.co.nz/Home   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Wine has been my destiny. Born in a family of grape growers and winemakers in Champagne, France, I had my future […]

Name: Philippe Blanc Country: France Currently: Director at Chateau Beychevelle Website: www.beychevelle.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am graduate from Paris School of Agronomy (Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon) and decided to specialize in viticulture and oenology (graduate oenologist, DNO) in […]

Name: Florian Alphart Country: Austria Currently: Winemaker at Alphart Winery Website: www.alphart.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine , the wine industry and how your career developed ? I was born into a family doing wine in the 9th generation and since I can remember I devoted the greatest attention […]

Name: Anthony Hamilton Russell Country: South Africa Currently: Managing Director at Hamilton Russell Vineyards Website: http://www.hamiltonrussellvineyards.com/    Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Hamilton Russell Vineyards was a small family wine business which I took over in 1991 and then purchased from the […]

Name: Mia Klein Country: USA-CA Currently: Winemaker at Selene Wines and Consultant Winemaker at Bressler, Cimarossa and Palmaz.           Website: www.selenewines.com/welcome.html, www.bresslervineyards.com, https://cimarossa.com, www.palmazvineyards.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I became interested in wine when I was working in a restaurant […]

Name: Bernard Huber Country: Switzerland Currently: Winemaker Website: www.abbaye-de-salaz.ch   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up on a farm at the foot of the Swiss Alps surrounded by vineyards. I always enjoyed the grape picking and the atmosphere around it […]

Name: Jean Hoefliger Country: USA-CA Currently: Winemaker-GM at Alpha Omega Winery - Consultant Winemaker at Monteverro, Tuscany Website: www.aowinery.com/index.cfm &  www.monteverro.com/en/home   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland. All males in my family went to law school, […]

Name: Annegret Reh-Gartner Country: Germany Currently: Winery Manager of Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Website: Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My father bought the „Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt“ estate in 1978 from the counts of Kesselstatt. I was very interested […]

Name: Nick Mills Country: New Zealand Currently: Winemaker at Rippon Estate Website: www.rippon.co.nz/land   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Born and bred on a farm and vineyard. As an adult sought to fall in love with the craft, rather than study the […]

Name: Alejandro Vigil Country: Argentina Currently: Head Winemaker of Bodega Catena Zapata Website: http://www.catenawines.com/   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? This is not a choice for me, it is the only thing that I learned to do. When I talk about this […]

Name: Silvia Altare Country: Italy Currently: General Manager at Elio Altare Wines Website: www.elioaltare.com/ing/elio_altare.asp   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? After having travelled the world and worked through several different wine regions, learned English working as an au-pair for the Krankl family […]

Name: Carol Duval-Leroy Country: France Currently: President of Champagne Duval-Leroy / Chef Website: www.duval-leroy.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? It was not a choice to develop a career in the wine industry. I have always dreamed about becoming a chef. Yet […]

Name: Sally & Jasper Raats Country: South Africa Currently: Winemaker at Longridge Wine Estate & International Consultant Winemaker Website: www.longridge.co.za   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I grew up drinking wine on weekends with my dad and started to collect it by […]

Name: Xavier Ausás Country: Spain Currently: Oenologist/Technical Director at Vega Sicilia Website: www.vega-sicilia.com   Questions: Please tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Historically my family has been involved in the food and agriculture industry (cheese production). This is why the world of wine and fermentation […]

Name: Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich Country: USA-CA Currently: President and Winemaker of Grgich Hills Estate Website: www.grgich.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I was born in Croatia in 1923. My father owned a vineyard and winery. At the age of 2 ½ […]

Name: Serge Hochar Country: Lebanon Currently: Oenologist of Chateau Musar Website: www.chateaumusar.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My father Gaston Hochar started the winery in 1930 in Ghazir, Lebanon. As he wanted me to join the family business, I started working […]

Name: Sébastien Jacquey Country: Canada Currently: Head Winemaker at Megalomaniac  Website: Megalomaniac   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I got into winemaking after a biology degree in food industry. The wine business was for me an opportunity to showcase a product that […]

Name: Josef Umathum Country: Austria Currently: Winemaker at Umathum Winery Website: http://en.umathum.at/   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? My parents founded the winery in the 1950ies and after studing landscape architecture and volunteering in wineries in France and Germany, I joined the […]

Name: Cathy Corison Country: USA-CA Currently: Winemaker-MD at Corison Winery Website: www.corison.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? Studying Biology at Pomona College 40 years ago, I took a wine appreciation course on a whim. Wine grabbed me by the neck and […]

Name: Alex Sakkas Country: Greece Currently: Wine is my way of life, my passion, my only job. I am writer, critic, lecturer, consultant, educator, wine judge.   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I got into wine naturally. Not only I've always been […]

Name: Dave Hughes Country: South Africa Currently: South African Wine Authority Website: www.stellenboschwriters.com/hughesd.html   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I “got into” as a development from my being and apprentice distiller. As soon after leaving school I applied to do my National […]

Name: Maria Luz Marin Country: Chile Currently: Winemaker of Casa Marin Website: www.casamarin.cl   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? I am a winemaker who studied at the Chile University in Chile.I started to work as an employee winemaker in big companies during […]

Name: Sepp Mantler Country: Austria Currently: Winemaker of Mantlerhof Website: www.mantlerhof.com   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry and how your career developed? As I was raised in a wine-grower family, there was always wine around us. BUT: at the age of about 5 years, I crawled on […]

Name: Andrea Franchetti Country:   Italy Currently: has created two unique properties, Tenuta di Trinoro, located in the confluence of southern Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria, and Passopisciaro which sits on the volatile volcanic slopes of Sicilys Mount Etna. Website: www.passopisciaro.com & www.tenutaditrinoro.it   Questions: Please, tell us about how you got into wine, the wine industry […]