meet our winemaker, Martin Mackenzie
B orn and raised in New Zealand, Martin found his destiny in the bottom of a wine glass in his late twenties. Convinced that his future lay in wine production he shut down his carpentry business and moved from Auckland to Hawkes Bay to study Viticulture and Oenology at the Eastern Institute of Technology. While Martin was at the top of his class he performed his internship at Stonyridge Vineyard, the iconic organic red wine producer of New Zealand. Stonyridge offered him the position of Assistant Winemaker. Martin quickly rose to head winemaker in 2002 and remained there through 2008.
In his ten years at Stonyridge Martin carved a reputation of consistent excellence producing world renowned Bordeaux blends, most notably Stonyridge Larose. As well as some of the country’s best Syrah and Malbec. In addition, while there Martin met his future wife, a Californian sweet heart who became the catalyst for their move to California. Martin had long considered California to be the most exciting red wine region in the world. His passion and commitment to quality is ideally suited to the extraordinary wines produced at Petroni Vineyards.
And we at Petroni Vineyards are thrilled to
have such an innovative winemaker bringing new leadership to the future of
our wines. Cheers !
