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 The site is a division of New Zealand's Information Network and is managed by Jeff Brown, who is renowned for his passion and knowledge for wines of New Zealand. This site is dedicated to providing wine lovers of all levels with extensive information regarding New Zealand wines.
The Wine-Cellar was started because of a passion for wine and has developed into an online gateway to wine sales, festival events, wine growing regions, viticulture books and products, buyer’s guides and general tips and advice to enhance your New Zealand wine experience.
Jeff Brown is from a farming background in South Canterbury and graduated from Lincoln University with a Diploma in Agriculture in 1969.
After returning from a 2 year OE he began work in management in Dunedin. He married Louise, and 2 children and 4 years on, had gained valuable administration experience in the agriculture and construction industries. Jeff joined J Rattray & Son as an administrator in the wholesale grocery distribution business in 1977. As part of this development Jeff was moved to various centres throughout New Zealand assuming responsibility for a variety of management roles.
This proved to be a rewarding 15 year experience and evolved to enable Jeff to become involved in liquor distribution as part of his role as Foodservice Category Manager, based in Auckland. It was at this time as wine and beer were introduced to supermarkets that Jeff's interest in New Zealand wine developed. Being involved in and directly responsible for the purchasing, promoting and sale of wine enabled Jeff's interest to become his passion.
Following his Rattray's experience, Jeff returned to Christchurch as Retail Manager of the rural supply co-op and successfully introduced a range of local Canterbury wines into the range of alcohol products on offer. After a period of owning a small business the opportunity arose for Jeff to become the first fulltime employee of the newly opened retail and Duty Free premium wine shop at Christchurch International Airport. This experience enabled Jeff to pass on to visitors from throughout New Zealand and overseas much information on New Zealand wineries and their wines, many of which are now internationally acclaimed medal winners. Jeff's efforts in this position were to be recognised and rewarded by his employer, Regency Duty Free, by awarding him a special customer service award at the end of the 1st year of operation from this store.
With this wealth of knowledge and information on New Zealand premium wines and wineries and a desire to support the "Product of New Zealand" philosophy, Jeff was encouraged to launch this web-site. By no means covering all premium wines of New Zealand, this web-site does however offer comprehensive information on the vintages, varieties and the opportunity to purchase quality New Zealand wines, often not readily available from traditional sources.
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