Five minutes with Andrew Hedley

By MiNDFOOD

Born in the UK, based in Marlborough and widely credited with making some of New Zealand’s best gewürztraminers, rieslings and sauvignon blancs, Andrew Hedley gave up 
a career in science in the UK to make wine at Framingham Wines, MiNDFOOD reports.

MiNDFOOD: What’s the best thing about a career 
in winemaking?

Being able to buy wine 
at trade prices.

How did you get a job in New Zealand winemaking?

Winemaker John Belsham was brave – or daft – enough to offer it to me over the phone, having never met me.

Will the world ever embrace riesling as mainstream?

It might be nice to keep it out of the mainstream. Most things that go mainstream get ruined pretty quickly.

Your favourite rieslings?

Dry styles such as Prager from the Wachau, Austria, and Van Volxem from the Saar, Germany, and sweeter styles such as Egon Muller from the Mosel and Donnhoff from the Nahe, Germany.

What are the most exciting lesser-known wines in Marlborough?

Viognier is one and we’re seeing more atypical Marlborough sauvignon blancs. One of my favourites, grüner veltliner, may rear its head, too, and if you think selling gewürztraminer is tough, what about grüner on the label? I expect we’ll see some cheesy puns along the ‘groovy’ line.

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