This autumn, Jo Cribb is inspiring us to take our cue from nature. Just like grapes storing starch for winter dormancy, let’s fill our tables and tummies with harvest produce, matched, of course, with delicious wine.

Late summer and autumn are the busiest times for New Zealand vineyards. Winemakers are anxiously monitoring their grapes, checking for optimal sugar and acid levels and desired flavour profiles, with one eye on the weather forecast. Rain at the wrong time can ruin a vintage by diluting and damaging grapes.

Once the grapes are harvested, between February and May, the focus moves inside the winery: crushing, fermenting and making critical decisions that will determine the quality of the final product. But not before the traditional harvest dinners are done. These big wrap parties celebrate the last grapes arriving at the winery.

Meanwhile, in the vineyard, stripped of their grapes, the vines put on a show of gold, orange and red. Like traffic lights, these colours signal the vines are diverting their energy away from their canopies, to store in their roots.

It’s not only grapes that are harvested in autumn. Feijoa trees are dripping with fruit; late season apples are syrupy sweet; pumpkins provide their welcome colour pop; and venison, duck and lamb are plentiful.

Such bounty calls for delicious dishes with thoughtful wine matches. Like a big buttery Gisborne Chardonnay with its juicy stone fruit flavours partnered alongside roast pumpkin and kumara, accentuating the natural vege sweetness. Or a peppery, blackberry Hawkes Bay Syrah with pan seared venison.

I’m also imagining a delicate roast of lamb with a soft berry noted, earthy Central Otago Pinot Noir. I might also be brave and pair a robust, astringent Martinborough Pinot Noir with tart stewed tamarillos. Feijoas pose a wine matching challenge, but I am up for feijoa crumble with a North Canterbury late harvest Riesling. 

Jo’s Seasonal Picks

Matawhero

Church House Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2024

Gisborne

$27

Pouring a glass of this Chardonnay means ripe peaches dripping in toasty butterscotch will end up in your glass. This ripe, rich wine will be delicious with roasted or buttery mashed pumpkin, potatoes or kumara.

Escarpment

Chardonnay 2024

Martinborough

$45

It’s important to treat ourselves now and then. This would be my autumn go-to. It’s a complex grown-up wine with flavours of mandarin and juicy spiced apples. Serve with roast chicken and good company.

Main Divide

Pinot Noir 2024

North Canterbury

$27

Finding quality Pinot Noir that doesn’t require a second mortgage is a tough gig. But this beauty from North Canterbury, with its red berry, black olive, and earthy mushroom flavours, is the real deal without the frightening price tag.

Blue Earth Estate

Pinot Noir 2020

Martinborough

$54

Roast that lamb with rosemary and stew those tamarillos with cinnamon. Then crank open a bottle of this velvety soft wine. Ripe red cherry fruit flavours balanced with touches of spice and savoury will make for a perfect meal on a chilly autumn evening.

Oak Estate

Syrah 2023

Hawkes Bay

$34

A glass of this just makes me happy. Silky smooth, toasted hazelnuts and spiced dark plums is my happy place. A good price for such a great wine means I can go to that happy place quite often.

Pegasus Bay

Aria Late Bottled Riesling 2024

$43

Some dessert wines are so sweet they are cloying. Not this one. It has the intense flavours of an aged sticky – roasted peaches, apricots in syrup, and honeycomb, but, being medium dry, it comes without the sugar weight. It even comes wrapped in autumnal
gold foil. 

Meet the Maker

Anna Kelland – Young Viticulturalist of the Year

Since a babe, Anna Kelland has loved chemistry. Growing up in the Hawke’s Bay, surrounded by vineyards, meant her path towards wine science and viticulture started fermenting early. By 14 she had set her mind on a career in the wine industry.

Her current role as a Viticulture Technician for Constellation Brands sees her collecting and analysing data to help the broader team make decisions throughout the growing season. The highlight of her short but mighty career to date was becoming New Zealand’s 20th Young Viticulturist of the Year in 2025. Winning involved acing a series of competitions at regional and national level that tested every aspect of viticulture, from pruning to public speaking.

She loves that she gets paid to work outside, in some of the most scenic spots in the country, though acknowledges that sometimes the weather doesn’t play ball.

Anna is currently exploring study options to add to her Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology from Hawke’s Bay’s Eastern Institute of Technology (where she was the top student) and the globally recognised Wine and Spirit Education Trust Diploma. Her career ambition is to become an expert; someone who can provide advice to others. There is no doubt she will achieve this, and we, the wine drinkers of New Zealand, will happily be the beneficiaries.