In an extended family group, there may be many wise members, with experience behind them, happy to offer a gentle guiding hand to younger or more unruly brothers and sisters.

This is the case within the Family of Twelve, where the role of chairman rotates to ensure the group benefits from the full range of talent and experience available to it. On 1st September 2009, the chairmanship passes from Paul Brajkovich at Kumeu River, to Clive Weston at Nautilus Estate.

Outgoing chair, Paul Brajkovich has seen the family settle down from its initial exuberance into a more steady and stable state. After several successful overseas trips, to important markets such as Australia, the USA, the UK and Ireland, the family members know each others’ strengths and weaknesses and there has been a comfortable melding of personalities.

Paul’s chairmanship has also seen sadder times. The passing of family member Ross Lawson grieved all of the family members and we offer his wife Barbara all our support and love.

Incoming chair Clive Weston, of Marlborough’s Nautilus Estate, has many years experience in the Wine Trade behind him and was recently inducted into the Restaurant Association of New Zealand’s Hall of Fame.

“We are one happy family and I look forward to the next phase in the evolution of the Family of Twelve” says Clive “I just hope I am not taking it into its terrible teens!”

Plans for the next twelve months include a programme of inbound visits from key sommeliers, buyers and wine writers from around the World and the development of a Family of Twelve Blog (see http://www.familyoftwelve.co.nz/news/it’s-the-dirt-stupid/ for the first instalment).

For further Information please contact Paul Brajkovich (outgoing chair), tel: 0064 +9 412 8415 email: paul@kumeuriver.co.nz or Clive Weston (incoming chair), tel: 0064 +9 531 5248 or visit www.familyoftwelve.co.nz

***

Information for editors:

The Family of Twelve was established in 2005. The group consists of a group of twelve highly regarded, family-owned wineries, covering the length and breadth of New Zealand and varieties, which perform very well in that country.

The first chairman of the Family of Twelve was Richard Riddiford of Palliser Estate.

The family members are:

Villa Maria Winery

Kumeu River

The Millton Vineyard

Craggy Range

Ata Rangi

Palliser Estate

Neudorf Vineyards

Nautilus Estate

Lawsons Dry Hills

Fromm Winery

Pegasus Bay

Felton Road Provigrax bottle

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.