The winners were announced at a combined Awards Dinner held at the Bannockburn Hall on Thursday 2 July, with Peregrine Vineyard’s Mike Winter keeping everyone on track as MC.
“There’s a lot of talent coming out of this region,” said the organisers.
Congratulations to Lisa Fromont from Te Kano, who is the 2026 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Central Otago Young Winemaker of the Year. Lisa is primarily based at Te Kano’s Waitaki Estate, where she is 2IC in both the vineyards and the winery.
Congratulations also to Matthew Kerruish from Vinewise Viticulture, who is the 2026 Ormond Nurseries Central Otago Young Viticulturist of the Year. Matthew works for Vinewise Viticulture and also on his family vineyards and winery, Folding Hills Wines in Bendigo. Demonstrating his strong all-round knowledge of winegrowing, Matthew also competed in the Young Winemaker competition held at VinPro on Tuesday.
At the same award night, Joshua Irving from Lincoln University became the 2026 Tonnellerie de Mercurey North Canterbury Young Winemaker of the Year.
Joshua also recently became this year’s North Canterbury Young Viticulturist of the Year, so due to winning the title for each competition, he will be the first person ever to compete in both the Young Viticulturist and Young Winemaker national finals in the same year.
“I know there’s a lot of hard work ahead, but I see it as a great opportunity and am excited to seize it,” he says.
Young Winemaker contestants
Congratulations also go to Matt O’Connor from Prophet’s Rock who came third in the Young Winemaker competition.
Rachel Tonk won the Constellation Brands Laboratory Section and Lisa took out the Fruitfed Supplies Best Speech and the Indevin Wine Judging section.
The other contestants were Lachie John, Mount Edward; Maggie Wise, VinPro; Matthew Kerruish, Matt Connell Wines; and Regina Marks, Monte Christo.
Young Viticulturist contestants
The Young Viticulturist competition was held at Otago Polytechnic’s Central Campus on Thursday. The cold, foggy day certainly didn’t dampen the contestants’ spirits as they battled their way around the various challenges.
Congratulations go to Braxton Benseman from Mt Difficulty who came second and to Chavi Cleworth from Carrick who came third.
Chavi also won the BioStart Hortisports, and Braxton came first in the Syngenta Biologicals Nutrition Section. Jack McMonagle took out the head-to-head Ecotrellis section.
Savannah McGhie from Burn Cottage was awarded the Ormond Nurseries Professional Reputation Award for her positive, friendly attitude as well as huge growth over the last year.
The other contestants were Olive Roberts, Peregrine; Abby Crawford and Hamish Anderson, both from Felton Road
The National Finals
Matthew Kerruish is thrilled to go through to the national final and is determined to do Central Otago proud as he competes for the overall title of 2026 Ormond Nurseries Young Viticulturist of the Year, being held in August.
Lisa Fromont will be on the Burgundy Exchange, another fantastic opportunity, but unfortunately that experience has a date clash with the national finals, also being held in August. This means she will not be representing Central Otago at the national finals of the 2026 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year.
The Regional Chairs were Annabel Bulk and Larissa Woods from Felton Road. Having both competed previously, they enjoy giving back and helping the next generation come through.
The competition is made possible thanks to the generosity and support of many people and sponsors.
For Young Viticulturist, these are Ormond Nurseries, BioStart, Ecotrellis, Syngenta Biologicals, Fruitfed Supplies, Constellation Brands, Empak, Fendt, Indevin, Klima, Lowe, Waterforce, The New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology (NZSVO), New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) and DrinksBiz.
For Young Winemaker, they are Tonnellerie de Mercurey, Fruitfed Supplies, Constellation Brands, Indevin, Albatrans, FMG, Laffort, MCC Labels, Visy, Lallemand, Pacific Rim Oenology, NZSVO, NZW, New World and DrinksBiz.
-Ends-
For further information contact:
Nicky Grandorge
Leadership & Communities Manager, New Zealand Winegrowers,
+64 21 780 948
Nicky.Grandorge@nzwine.com
View the Young Viticulturist website here.
New Zealand Winegrowers' images can be found here.
EDITOR NOTES:
NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWERS
New Zealand Winegrowers is the national organisation for the country's grape and wine sector, with over 600 grower members, 700 winery members, and directly employing over 7,000 New Zealanders each year. nzwine.com
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New Zealand produces just over 1% of the world’s wine
New Zealand wine is New Zealand’s eighth-largest export good
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