Pinot Noir Workshop speaker

2008 NZSVO workshop

Getting to grips with Pinot Noir - a look at Pinot Noir tannin management

Speaker Profile

Julia O’Connell

Winemaker, Marlborough, Pernod Ricard NZ.

Julia was born and raised in Cambridge, and grew up learning about wine from her parents business, Cambridge Wine and Spirits. Julia completed a Bachelor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1992. After a brief working holiday in the UK, she undertook a Master's degree in 1993 where her research thesis studied the velocity of the electrolyte in aluminium smelting cells. While studying at Auckland University she decided the aluminium industry was not for her, and successfully applied for a job as a trainee winemaker at Pernod Ricard NZ’s (then Montana Wines) Marlborough winery.

Over the next three years, this role provided Julia with an excellent grounding in all aspects of winemaking from the cellar floor to marketing finished wine. In 1996, Julia transferred to Auckland, and was responsible for the tirage, riddling and disgorging of Montana’s Deutz and Lindauer méthode traditionnelle wines in the Auckland Winery. At the end of 2002 Julia returned to Marlborough to focus on crafting the base wines for Deutz Marlborough Cuvée. Julia is also responsible for a range of Sauvignon Blanc wines and has experience in making Pinot Noir with fruit sourced from the Marlborough, Waipara, Central Otago and Martinborough regions.