Nikolai St George, Cloudy Bay’s winemaker

What compelled you to go into winemaking?

I grew up on the west coast of the north island, in one of the more rural parts of New Zealand. My parents are farmers and I grew up seeing them work 24/7. I knew I wanted a better work-life balance, but one that still tied into my horticultural, agricultural background, so I studied viticulture. I was only 17 and the legal drinking age was 21, at the time, but we’d always had wine on the table, to go with the lamb and beef from our farm,…