Top Villa Maria winemaker chases her dream

Haidee Johnson (centre), winner of The Tonnellerie de Mercurey New Zealand Young Winemaker award, pictured with sponsors Sherwyn and Marcel from Tonnellerie de Mercurey. Photo / Supplied

The search for the North Island's best young winemaker for this year has ended, with Haidee Johnson from Villa Maria Estate taking out the top prize.

More than 120 people attended the awards dinner on Friday night following the competition at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier, where Johnson was judged the North Island's best young winemaker, with Lochlan Bainbridge of Ashridge Wines coming second, and Kate Franklin from Sacred Hill taking third place.

It's a huge honour, given the calibre of the contestants this year.

Haidee Johnson

Both Johnson and Bainbridge will now compete for the title of New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year in Auckland next month.

"I'm blown away to be judged best young winemaker in the North Island," Johnson says.
"It's a huge honour, given the calibre of the contestants this year.

"Now comes an even tougher job of competing for the national title. That's something all young New Zealand winemakers dream of holding."

Johnson says she got into winemaking because wine is a passion of hers.

"I love the endless complexities that wine brings, the continuous problem solving exercise and being proud of making something and seeing the happiness it brings people."

For runner up Bainbridge, the reason for winemaking is simple — it combines two of his passions: "I like wine and I like making things so I put two and two together."

All up, seven young winemakers competed in Friday's event. They were: Haidee Johnson, Kate Douglas, and Gavin Dalton all of Villa Maria Estate; Kate Franklin of Sacred Hill Winery, Andrew Bao of Hawke's Bay Wine Company, Douw Gerbrand Grobler of Trinity Hill, and Lochlan Bainbridge of Ash Ridge Wines.

The Tonnellerie de Mercurey New Zealand Young Winemaker of the Year competition was launched in 2015 with the vision to have every eligible under-30-year-old winemaking professional compete for the ultimate prize.

The award is designed to stimulate and excite the next generation of winemakers in New Zealand's wine industry.

"Last year, Sara Addis from Trinity Hill here in Hawke's Bay got runner-up at the national awards, so this year we'll be cheering hard for one of our champions to take out the top spot," event organiser Rebecca Tacon said.