www.foodtechnology.co.nz 49 father had vineyards in the Riverland of South Australia, and his step-grandfather had a vineyard and small winery in the Barossa region of South Australia.” He will be joined shortly by brother Edward Macdonald, who is returning from London to join the team. With an economics degree, he will be undertaking some accounting courses to round out his management skills in order to become an integral part of the team. “James and Edward as part of the family undertake marketing roles and travel on behalf of the company,” Hunter says. “Jeremy Adsett joined us two years ago to fill the marketing gap. He has gradually added domestic sales to his role and this year will be undertaking his first marketing trip to the USA. He is a whizz with social media. “ Alongside the family are highly experienced staff members like Inus Van der Westhuizen, who is from South Africa and has been with the winemaker for seven years. He and James co-share the winemaking, along with the company’s newly appointed assistant winemaker Katie Laing. Gary Duke has remained as a consultant to the winemakers despite recently retiring, and the company still retains Australian consultant Dr Tony Jordan, who has worked with the team since 1986. Jane Hunter says 2016 looks like being a challenging vintage – as harvest seems to be of late. Wineries have had late frosts, extreme dry and water shortages, which suggests a very large cropping year, although obviously there is some way to go yet. “Recent rain has alleviated our worry about water shortages for a while but we do need more rain to get us through to harvest,” she says. “The challenges long term are fluctuating exchange rates, challenging climatic conditions and the worry of another over-supply situation.” www.hunters.co.nz Jane Hunter (right) with her nephew and chief wine maker James Macdonald.
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