Theresa Woessner is another American that has been bitten by the wine bug in Central Otago.
"Ten years ago if you’d said I’d be at the bottom of the world in New Zealand making wine ... I’d have laughed at you," the Florida native says.
Back then she had just arrived in New Zealand after completing a business and hospitality degree at the University of South Carolina for an internship at a luxury golf tourism operation in the North Island.
She had big plans to travel the world and continue her career in golf club management, but a decision to do a ski season in Queenstown changed all that.
"Nine ski seasons later and I’m still here hanging out."
Loving the lifestyle, Woessner worked at Jacks Point Golf Course as duty manager and then did a summer at Quartz Reef’s cellar door near Cromwell.
"I was bitten by the wine bug. It just grabs you, you can’t resist."
She found the wine industry really tapped into her loves around culture, people and science. That it is a small, young, passionate community which embraced people willing to learn also appealed.
"It’s a fun, personal, passionate driven industry. The industry as a whole is a perfect balance."
However, for visa reasons she had to return to hospitality work and worked alongside master of wine Cameron Douglas and fellow Florida native turned wine-maker Stephanie Maddox, in opening the Lodge Bar.
She did not give up on wine, instead getting her qualifications as a sommelier and making the most of absorbing information from those in the wine industry who she dealt with working as sommelier.
"It was amazing - a great way to taste wines from around the region and all over the world. I thought instead of tasting someone else’s wine I’d have a go at making my own."
In 2020 she made the decision to give up the world trip and make wine her career by enrolling in wine-making and viticulture at NMIT Te Pukenga in Nelson, where students are allowed to work and study at the same time, as well as learn both skills.
"I really wanted that technical background. I haven’t looked back."
Now in her final year she has not yet made a choice between viticulture and wine-making, as she enjoys both aspects of the work such as being outside among the vines and seeing them come to life each year. But the artistry of making wine also appeals.
"Luckily at Carrick I get to do both the viticulture and the winemaking side ... they go hand in hand."
The sommelier background also gives her a unique approach to the industry.
"Being on the floor you have the ability to read a customer, find out what they want and match to them. It gives me a really broad perspective when making wine to not just think about what I like but what other people would like."
"I’ve been lucky."
NMIT called for interest in being an associate judge at this year’s New World Wine Awards and having heard about the opportunity from Maddox - who won the opportunity last year - she was keen to give it a go.
"We are both Florida, we both moved out to New Zealand about the same time, and started working in Queenstown hospitality so we’ve had these funny crossovers our whole careers [and] now we’ve both jumped into the wine industry. It’s been awesome."
Getting the wine awards opportunity really helped give wine makers perspective by tasting different wines, styles and price points, she says.
"It’s a great reason to do a bit of judging as it opens youreyes."
Woessner joined a team of 17 industry experts last week led by co-judges Sam Kim and Jen Parr, winemaker at Central Otago’s Valli vineyard, to judge the more than 1200 wines from around New Zealand and the world entered in the competition, which focuses on wines under $25.
She was able to sit alongside judges with years of experience and taste more than 250 wines over three days. Day one alone the judging team had 150 sauvignon blancs and 110 pinot gris wines to taste. There were also 650 reds including 130 still and 40 sparkling rose wines to be judged and 50 zero-alcohol wines.
"It sounds like fun in theory but it is actually hard work by the end."
It has opened her eyes to the "incredible quality" that can be found in many of the wines in that price bracket.
"All kudos to the producers."
Parr says it has been a challenging season for many wine-growing regions.
"The volume of grapes has been lower than last year’s record-breaker, reports on the quality of fruit have been promising."
New World Wine Awards
• More than 1200 wines judged across all varietals including zero alcohol
• Judges evaluate wines on appearance, taste and smell.
• Wines scored according to the internationally recognised 100-point system to award gold (95-100 points), silver (90-94) and bronze medals (85-89). To earn a gold medal, a wine will have been tasted and graded at least 18 times by 11 different judges.
• The top scoring wines will be tasted once again by the entire judging panel to determine the champions of each main varietal, and an overall champion red and champion white.
• The full results will be announced in October.
