As some of you may know, I was at one time the President and Cellarmaster for the South World Wine Society in Vancouver. I had a wonderful time tasting wines from the Southern Hemisphere and meeting many winery principals. I really enjoy the wines from New Zealand, which is well known for their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir wines. But they have many other tasty wines as well. Besides wine, there are also many winemakers from New Zealand that work here in BC, such as John Simes, Grant Stanley, and Amy Paynter.
I would like to share more knowledge about New Zealand wines with my readers, so I scoured the North and South Islands in New Zealand to find Wine & Food Creative Yvonne Lorkin, who also uses a 5-star wine rating. I will be sharing some of Yvonne’s past articles about New Zealand wines with you, and hopefully, I will have Yvonne write some articles for us so that we have a deeper knowledge of Kiwi wines and feel more confident when we pick a New Zealand wine from a local bottle shop or at a restaurant.
A Bit of Background on Yvonne Lorkin
From Yvonne’s website, we find out that she:
- Lives in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
- Full-Time Independent Wine Writer & founding member of the Wine Writers of NZ group.
- Chief Tasting Officer of WineFriend
- Host and Producer of wine tv show “Thirsty Work“
- Wine and beverages editor for dish Magazine
- Wine columnist for CANVAS in the Weekend NZ Herald
- Yvonne is a regular contributor to the wine segment on Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan on Radio New Zealand National and TV3’s AMShow
- Senior Wine Competition Judge (Easter Show Wine Competition, NZ International Wine Show, Hawke’s Bay Regional Wine Awards, Gisborne Regional Wine Awards)
- Yvonne is an accomplished MC and regularly hosts charity auctions, events & specialist tastings along with being a speaker for various groups and society meetings – to book me visit https://www.celebrityspeakers.co.nz/yvonne-lorkin/
- Author of children’s book “The Really Sticky Grubby Lolly” (Raupo NZ)
- Yvonne graduated with top honours from the world-renown Wine Marketing Diploma Programme at Adelaide University (formerly known as Roseworthy College). This involved four years of intensive study with the course being split evenly between grape growing, winemaking, winery operations, international business, marketing & management. Yvonne is also the co-founder and Chief Tasting Officer of WineFriend, the coolest and most incredible new wine subscription business this side of the Waihopai River. Combined, the readership and viewership figures of her magazine and newspaper columns and her regular radio and television appearances amount to hundreds of thousands of people weekly. This means she’s the most widely circulated and widely visible wine commentator in the country. But her parents (bless them) are still hoping she’ll stop all this nonsense and get a proper job…In her past lives, Yvonne has also successfully helped launch and reinvigorate wine brands by writing creative press releases and copy, advising on PR strategy, branding, labeling, and artwork.
- Yvonne regularly hosts wine education workshops and tastings for private groups, such as corporate clients wishing to treat their staff to something a little different.
