Winemaker

About Us

Home to the iconic brand Villa Maria, our vision is to be one of the world's great wine companies, sharing the best of New Zealand wine with the world.

Our grapes come from over 3,000 hectares of planted vineyards and blended in our wineries across three of the renowned wine regions - Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, and Gisborne - and our wines are exported globally. From grape to glass, we've been pioneers of wine industry practices since 2003 - we're passionate about wine and we love what we do!

From our wine supply business to our branded wines - we are proud of our incredible footprint in the industry.

The Role

We’re looking for an experienced Winemaker to support in delivering wines that meet our quality, style and market expectations. This is a hands-on role with broad responsibility across technical winemaking, specification development, quality assurance, inventory planning and customer-focused activity.

Based in Marlborough, you’ll work closely with the Senior Winemaker, Planning Team and wider business on technical specifications and market requirements across all stages of winemaking.  During vintage, you’ll help lead harvest decision-making and ferment management, while also guiding and supporting our Vintage Assistant Winemakers.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Developing and continuously improving winemaking specifications to achieve our strategic wine style and quality goals.
• Monitoring wine quality through organoleptic and chemical assessment, ensuring inventory is consistent, compliant and ready for market.
• Working with the Planning Team to align winemaking inputs, inventory allocations and approved blend plans with production and global sales forecasts.
• Coordinating blend approvals and allocations for branded and wine supply programmes in collaboration with the Senior Winemaker.
• Leading harvest decision-making through maturity sampling, intake planning, juice and wine adjustments, ferment management and vintage inventory classification.
• Supporting market-led innovation, customer relationships and technical queries, while maintaining customer-specific wine and product specifications.
• Representing Indevin and our wines at market visits, hospitality events, media opportunities and other external engagements as required.
• Managing, mentoring and supporting Vintage Assistant Winemakers, while contributing to winemaking capability and training across the wider team.

About you

• Proven winemaking experience, with strong technical knowledge across wine production, quality assurance and ferment management.
• The ability to interpret maturity sampling, organoleptic assessments and chemical analysis to guide practical winemaking decisions.
• Experience developing and working to wine specifications, quality standards and destination market requirements.
• Strong planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced vintage environment.
• A collaborative approach and the ability to build effective relationships with Planning, Operations, customer teams and external stakeholders.
• Confident communication and customer engagement skills, with the ability to explain technical information clearly and represent the business professionally.
• Experience leading, mentoring or developing others, particularly in a seasonal or vintage winemaking environment.
• A safety-first mindset, sound judgement and a commitment to quality, food safety, inclusion and continuous improvement.

On Offer

• Salary + wine allowance + wellness allowance
• Southern Cross Health Insurance coverage
• Experience a positive, friendly, and passionate work culture, with occasional wine tastings!
• Diverse career development opportunities across various functions
• Benefit from 1x "You Day" per annum, additional company-paid parental leave, and options to purchase an extra 2 weeks of annual leave per year

Thrive in a flexible business environment that empowers the team to take ownership

Our Culture

We think our culture is pretty special. We have talented teams working in a variety of breath-taking locations. Our priority and investment in the wellbeing and diversity of our people is core to our purpose.

We're all about authenticity and transparency so rather than bombard you with corporate jargon- here's the real Indevin:

• We're a good ol' Kiwi company who is proud to be a wine industry leader and we have years of hard work to thank for it
• Our business is proudly spearheaded by the Villa Maria Brand
• We take our work, but not ourselves, too seriously
• We work with people from all over the world because our diversity makes us stronger
• We're very passionate about what we do. We love wine, sharing our knowledge and making Indevin an inspiring place to work

Apply

If this role piques your interest, don't delay - apply online today!