2024 North Canterbury And Central Otago Young Winemakers Announced

Congratulations to Georgia Mehlhopt from Greystone Wines for winning the Central Otago competition on 6 August and becoming the 2024 Tonnellerie de Mercurey North Canterbury Young Winemaker of the Year. This is the second time she has won the competition and title, previously in 2022.

Congratulations also to Callum Scarborough from Felton Road who came second and was crowned the 2024 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Central Otago Young Winemaker of the Year.

The Central Otago competition, held at VinPro in Cromwell, is also open to contestants from North Canterbury and Waitaki. Georgia and Callum are both thrilled to go through to the National Final to represent their respective regions.

Congratulations also goes to Max Jing from Burn Cottage who came third.

The other contestants were Felix Jordan from Gibbston Valley and Maddy Gamble from Felton Road who both also demonstrated good winemaking skills and industry knowledge.

Georgia, Callum, Felix and Max have all also entered the Young Viticulturist of the Year competition and Maddy is planning on entering it next year too. This highlights their knowledge of the whole wine production process from start to finish as well as their strong ambition to stretch themselves and grow their careers in the New Zealand wine industry.

The young winemakers were tested on many aspects of wine production which included laboratory tests, wine assessment, wine industry knowledge and undertaking an interview. They were also tasked with creating a Pinot Noir blend and pitching it to a panel. Their finals task was to deliver a speech at the Awards Dinner held at Kinross in Gibbston Valley.

There were cash prizes for the winners and Georgia won a Fruitfed Supplies Field Trip to be held later in the year. She also won the top Fruitfed Supplies Speech and Constellation Brands Laboratory Section. Callum took out the Indevin Wine Judging Section and Vin Olympics. He also came joint first with Max Jing in the People’s Choice, where the dinner guests blind tasted and voted for their favourite Pinot Noir blend.

The 2024 Young Winemaker National Final is being held at The Runholder in Martinborough on 27 August. The national finalists will deliver their speeches at the Altogether Unique 2024 Wine Business Forum at Te Papa on 29 August and the winner will be announced at the Celebration Dinner that night.

The finalists will compete not only for the prestigious title of the 2024 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year, but also an amazing prize package which includes a visit to Tonnellerie de Mercurey (cooperage) in Burgundy, be an associate judge in the New World Wine Awards and review wines in DrinksBiz magazine. There is also the opportunity for the finalists to win prizes for the Constellation Laboratory Section, the Indevin Wine Judging Section and the best Fruitfed Supplies Speech.

The runners up, sponsored by NZSVO, will also attend the Altogether Unique 2024 Celebration Dinner in Wellington at the end of August.

The Young Winemaker of the Year competition is made possible thanks to all the generous sponsors: Tonnellerie de Mercurey, Fruitfed Supplies, Constellation Brands, Indevin, FMG, Lab Supply, Laffort, Tira Crown, Visy, Winejobsonline, New World, NZSVO, Pernod Ricard and New Zealand Winegrowers.

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