1.How do you describe your role to family / friends?
The perfect combination of creativity and science: from sampling of the grapes in the vineyards to inform harvest decisions; to inoculating and monitoring ferments to completion; to quality assurance to make sure our wines are microbial stable and at its best prior to bottling. Oh, and there’s a LOT of cleaning.
2.What's your favourite Trinity Hill wine and why? How did you enjoy it?
My current favourite is the 2018 Single Vineyard ‘Prison Block’ – an absolutely stunning example of a Gimblett Gravels Cabinet Sauvignon. Beautiful cassis, savoury herbs and mocha balanced with a great tannin backbone. Lovely drinking now – especially alongside a juicy steak. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this develops with a bit of cellaring.
3.What are you most looking forward to achieving / finishing at Trinity Hill?
2021 was my first vintage with Trinity Hill, so I am really looking forward to seeing the release of these wines when the time comes. It’s looking like a particularly great vintage for our Syrah, with the wines currently showing lovely fruit concentration and purity, combined with great levels of acidity.
4.What is a tip for someone starting out?
I’d say attitude is everything, and it’s never to late for a career change! I’d been working in the financial services industry in the UK for 12 years, and with a planned moved back to Hawke’s Bay with my young family, I craved a change, one that enabled me to still utilise my creative skills, combined with my interest in science and the outdoors. After completing a Grad Diploma in Oenology at EIT in 2020, I replied to an advert for laboratory assistant / cellar hand at Trinity Hill and got stuck in! Being a team player is critical, especially working in a smaller winery, listening is also a pretty key skill – there’s always lots to learn, and new things to try, and I’m lucky to have the oracles of Warren and Damian!