Villa Maria was founded by a young George (now Sir George) Fistonich in 1961. He has built Villa Maria from a tiny Auckland operation into one of New Zealand’s major producers and the country’s largest, wholly family-owned winery. Villa Maria opened a winery in Marlborough in 2000, and remains an international leader in the Sauvignon Blanc market. It has interests in most of the major New Zealand wine regions and is still headquartered in Auckland, with a new winery and ‘vineyard park’ opened in 2005. Wines are produced at four quality levels and commonly offer exceptional value for money. All Villa Maria wines have been bottled under screwcap since 2001.

<p>Owners and Vignerons, Owen and Cassandra Inglis founded Sidewood in 2004 borne of their uncompromising vision and passion for creating beautifully balanced, elegant, award-winning wines. Despite Sidewood being a relatively new brand in the wine industry, it has already achieved Five Red Star Accreditation from James Halliday and in 2016 became the largest eco-sustainable winery in the Adelaide Hills.</p>

The great families of the industry form long-chain dynasties, with an aristocratic order of precedence and so on. If your name is Rothschild or Bollinger or Penfold and you come from the wine industry side of the family, you inherit special genetic consideration, thanks to your ancestors.<p>In New Zealand, one of the oldest and best-known wine families is that of Corban's. Their name and label goes back a hundred or more years. And like many of the Australian 'wine royalty', younger members of the family are now striking out to make their own names in the business. Like Jeremy Corban who, with partner-in-wine (and life) Katherine Jacobs, has rapidly built a strong reputation with Big Sky Wines in Martinborough.<p>Most Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc lovers already know Martinborough. Before Central Otago rose to prominence, Martinborough was the hub of New Zealand Pinot Noir and it remains arguably the premier region, with makers like A