2025

Rob Walters and Remi Jacquemain from A Place of Changing Winds.

Robert Walters is a vineyard owner, writer and wine merchant with over 30 year’s experience in the fine wine trade. He is the owner of Place of Changing Winds vineyard (established in 2012) an organic (not certified) high-density Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, vineyard in the Macedon Ranges of Victoria that has now inspired a number of other, more recent close planted vineyards across Australia. He is also owner, founder and senior wine buyer at Bibendum Wine Co, one of Australia’s leading wine and spirit distributors. Rob has written for such prestigious publications as World of Fine Wine and Noble Rot magazine and is the author of the award winning Bursting Bubbles: A Secret History of Champagne, a book that won “Best Debut Drink Book” at the prestigious Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Award 2018 and was shortlisted for a number of other awards including the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards where it was nominated for “Wine Book of the Year”. He has also recently published a translation of Rene Lafon’s 1917 treatise on Poussard Pruning, Changes to be Made to Vine Pruning, arguably the most influential work on vine pruning ever written and certainly the most thorough. His broad experience and his close working relationship with many great growers from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including a number of Burgundy and Champagne’s finest producers, has informed his approach to quality wine farming and production.

 For the last twelve years Rob has been putting his experience into practice at Place of Changing Winds, establishing a no-compromise agronomical system and producing wines that are now garnering international attention. With vine densities at mostly 12,000, 14,000, 20,000, 25,000 and 33,000 vine per hectare, as well as his close relationship with Olivier Lamy (pioneer of higher density plantings in Burgundy), Rob is in a unique position to be able to speak to this topic.

Rémi Jacquemain has been the ‘regisseur’ (or manager) at Place of Changing Winds since 2017. He has both a Viticulture Masters degree and Diploma of Oenology (Winemaking-Oenology Masters Degree) from Bordeaux University where he trained under some the world’s most important wine scientists. He also had some six or seven years of work experience in Bordeaux, Beaujolais, and various estates in Australia before joining Place of Changing Winds.

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Background

The Southern Pinot Noir Workshop is an annual technical workshop that brings together winegrowers from New Zealand and the rest of the world for an in-depth look at the variety Pinot Noir.

Our event was inspired by the Steamboat Pinot Noir Conference in Oregon USA
http://www.steamboatpinot.com/

Over the course of the 3-day workshop presentations are made and barrel samples are evaluated during formal tasting sessions with the sole purpose of understanding more about the variety.

The Southern Pinot Noir Workshop, now in its 34th year, has been pivotal in New Zealand’s greater understanding of the variety and the enthusiasm this wine style has been generating.

We are indebted to Visy for their ongoing sponsorship of our annual event.

Please remember this when you are ordering bottles.

We are also very grateful of our other sponsors, NZ Winegrowers, Pacific Rim Oenology Services, and Bouchard Cooperages.

Objectives

  1. To bring together Pinot Noir Winegrowers.
  2. To taste and evaluate previous vintage Pinot Noirs.
  3. To exchange information in confidence on the growing and making of Pinot Noir.
  4. To accomplish these objectives in an informal relaxed atmosphere that allows for recreation and sharing of wine with friends in a beautiful setting.

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