Jane Hunter Honoured by Marlborough Wine Industry
PRESS RELEASE
October 28, 2016
Jane Hunter Honoured by Marlborough Wine Industry
Jane Hunter, owner of Hunter’s Wines in Marlborough, has been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the board of Wine Marlborough.
The annual award is given in recognition of services to the wine industry over a period of time.
Jane, who arrived in Marlborough in 1983, has played an integral role in making Marlborough a household name in international wine circles.
Arriving in the province in 1983 as a viticulturist for Montana Wines, she went on to marry Ernie Hunter, the founder of one of Marlborough’s first wineries. When Ernie died in 1987, Jane took over the reins of the company.
Now, 29 years later, she is often referred to as New Zealand’s first woman of wine.
She has been a board member of the New Zealand Wine Institute, and was a founding director of the New Zealand Wine Guild, an export arm of the national body.
Her management skills have been recognised by the New Zealand 2000 Task Board, Horticulture Research Board, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise board and Plant and Food Research board.
In 1993 she received an OBE for her services
to viticulture and in 2009 she was made a Companion of the
New Zealand Order of Merit.
Recognition of her role in
the development of the New Zealand wine industry is not
limited to this country. She was awarded the inaugural Wine
& Spirit Competition for Women in Wine Award in the UK and
recently was awarded Wolf Blass AM Award for the development
of Riesling.
Jane Hunter is in good company within the Wine Marlborough Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Previous winners include; Gerry Gregg, Ross Lawson, Phil Rose and Ivan Sutherland.
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