Natalie's glass half full: 'MAKING WINE IS SPIRITUAL'

Our winning vintner has a magical mantra to get the best out of her grapes

- Kasia Jillings

She’s just taken out the coveted title of White Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge in London – the first woman from New Zealand to do so – but Natalie Christensen says if it wasn’t for a quarter-life crisis, she may never have found her calling.

Talking to the Weekly about her life and impressive career, the Yealands Estate chief winemaker explains she got her start after quitting her office job at 25 in a bid to find more purpose and meaning in life.

“I had decided I really wanted to be creating something, but wasn’t sure what that was,” recalls Natalie, now 42. “My brother was living in Marlborough and said, ‘Why don’t you come here, work a grape harvest, then go travelling to figure things out?’”

She was already a classically trained double-bass player and had studied music at Victoria University with the goal of becoming a film composer. She then added in a psychology degree, intending to become a music therapist, but ended up working in HR.

Arriving in Marlborough, Natalie expected to stay for one harvest, but while working in the lab for St Clair Family Estate analysing the grape juices, she fell in love with a career she had never considered before.