Jo Mills, Rippon Vineyard, Central Otago

Born, Bred, Schooled:

London, Oxford, Central Otago....

First wine industry job:

Importing Rhone & Languedoc wines in London at Mistral Wines.

First real (full time) job (outside of school/uni holidays)

Above.

Career Highlight

Too many to mention, too few to omit.

Mentor/Influencer

Nick Mills, my parents, (almost) everyone I've ever worked with. Jilly Cooper.

Cat? Dog?

Dog - Pipette (The Wine Thief), died this year.

Desert island wine and food.

Oh God, depends on the island and the weather. And the accompanying soundtrack. A killer Manzanilla and some charcuterie from one of the island's resident pigs would probably be hard to beat.

Dinner table companions, dead or alive.

Nick Mills, Sylvia Pankhurst, Graham Norton, Winston Churchill, Carol Ann Duffy.

Greatest achievement:

Landing myself a fantastic husband, somehow managing to produce two amazing children.

New Zealand wine industry needs...

lower excise rates. And a resurgence of independent wine merchants.

If you weren't working in the wine industry in your current position, what would you be doing?

Commuting on the Tube, drinking NZ Pinot every evening, wondering who the fabulous people were who created such vinous gems.

Virtues

Isn't that one of the things, like beauty, that lies in the eye of the beholder?

Vices

Not for nothing does my husband call me "Dumpling"

One thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

I seem to be surprising everyone in Wanaka who discovers that I'm word perfect on One Direction's first album. I have a 4-year old son who is obsessed with them, she hastens to add.

If you had the day off tomorrow what would you like to do.

Sleep in, lie in bed and finish my fantastic book ("To End All Wars"), have a leisurely lunch in town then get into the garden, Riesling close to hand.