The protagonists of positive change

Having spent six decades standing shoulder to shoulder with the pioneers who’ve shaped New Zealand’s modern wine industry, Sir George is renowned for breaking new ground and creating possibilities. His energy – and signature bloody mindedness – is infectious, and sharing his love of wine is his greatest joy.

At Čuvar, he does so in down to earth Croatian style, making beautiful wine experiences accessible to everyone, while raising new talent and writing a new chapter for New Zealand wine.

Sir George’s daughter, Karen sits at the helm of Čuvar Winery to carry forward the Fistonich family legacy with her focus on continuing to produce exceptional wines.

Born into a Croatian family, a passion for wine has been a part of Karen’s heritage from an early age. Karen has long been involved in the family wine businesses with extensive experience in governance and management. Karen is passionate about creating world class wines from Hawkes Bay.

As much as she denies it Michelle lives and breathes wine. With intuition, experience and deep knowledge, she makes exceptional wines and has a wardrobe full of accolades to show for it. She’s travelled the globe, interpreting the beauty of a country, region, vineyard or single row in the vibrancy of her wines she creates.

With a knack for capturing the distinction of a moment in time and the mood of a vintage, it’s no wonder Sir George searched her out and asked her to be chief winemaker at Čuvar.

Hawke’s Bay based Emma started her Viticulturist career as a cadet with Sir George at Villa Maria, quickly earning her stripes climbing through the ranks wearing a few hats along the way; from research viticulturist to company viticulturist and onto nursery manager for Vineyard Plants.

A highly regarded and awarded Viticulturist and a board member for New Zealand Winegrowers, Emma has a raft of industry experience, a thirst for knowledge and a love for the vines.

You could say that good wine is in Fabian’s DNA. As the son of the late Frank Yukich, another one of the industry’s founding greats, he went from scaring birds on his family vineyard as a child to leading projects alongside Sir George at Villa Maria for 22 years and becoming an industry legend in his own right.

With a life lived so closely connected to the land, it’s no surprise that Fabian champions sustainability in wine, spearheading environmental and biodiversity initiatives and advocating through his roles with NZ Winegrowers, Sustainable Winegrowing NZ (SWNZ) and the Organic Exporters Association.