John Forrest

Where It Started Marlborough is the first point of reference, and that matters in a wine business: place is not backdrop, it is working context. Forrest Wines was founded by John Forrest in 1980, and the enterprise has grown from that first act of making into a long-running cellar door of ideas about how wine should be grown, handled, and presented. Otago University enters the record in 1982, after the winery’s founding. That sequence places study alongside practice rather than ahead of it, with John Forrest building a career in which formal education and commercial winegrowing sit in the same frame.

Who Shaped Them Marlborough, Otago University in 1982, and the discipline of running a winery founded in 1980 are the fixed markers in the line. John Forrest’s work is shaped by those anchors: local ground, later study, and the demands of keeping a producer moving year after year. The current focus is visible in the subjects he returns to most often: low-alcohol wine research, sustainability, screw caps, and Rieslings. Taken together, they show a maker working toward balance, keeping an eye on how wine is made, sealed, and positioned for the bottle.

The Work Today

At Forrest Wines in Marlborough, New Zealand, John Forrest remains owner and winemaker. The role is practical and ongoing: low-alcohol wine research asks for control; sustainability extends the work beyond the cellar; screw caps place closure within the logic of the wine itself. Rieslings fit that approach cleanly. They sit within the same set of concerns that have defined the business since 1980, with John Forrest continuing to work in the region where the company began and where his name remains tied to both production and direction.

Signature

John's signature dishes include The Doctors', John Forrest Collection Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir 2010, and John Forrest Collection Pinot Noir.