Stu Marfell is our Group Chief Winemaker.

Born and raised in the Awatere, as a child Stu witnessed an exciting transformation from a quiet pastoral farming region to celebrated grape growing appellation as Vavasour forged a new frontier in winemaking. As a nine-year-old he was at the winery for that first revelatory vintage of 1989 – and caught the winemaking bug.

Stu was awarded ‘New Zealand Winemaker of the Show’ at the New Zealand International Wine Show in both 2018 and 2022.