Rob MacCulloch's first true encounter with wine was when he joined Oddbins in 1995 and encountered the heady highs and lows of all that an apprenticeship in Oddbins entailed. Thereafter he worked for Montana Wines in New Zealand, then in the UK for Hatch Mansfield, Bibendum Wines, and for Burgundy and Beaujolais specialists Domaine Direct. In 2015, he made a career change, leaving wine sales and entering wine production. He gained practical production experience around the world by completing four harvests in twelve months - in the Mosel, in South Africa's Olifants River, in Hawke's Bay and in Napa Valley. This practical experience ranged from working for a traditional family-run small estate, to a bulk wine co-operative, to a large custom crush facility, to a winery making ultra-premium wines. Rob then completed the Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology, with its focus on cool climate viticulture, at Lincoln University in New Zealand in 2017. He now works as the bulk wine Export Winemaker at the custom crush winery in Hawke's Bay where he had previously worked in 2016.

Primary area(s) of work: Wine production

Industry sector(s): Project management, Viticulture, Winemaking, QA/QC, Sales

Wine region expertise: Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Mosel, New Zealand, Burgundy, Rhone, California

Market expertise: Australia, New Zealand, Europe, United Kingdom

Specialisms: Rootstocks and grafting, Factors affecting grape growing, Maladies of the vine and their control, Structure and composition of grapes, Harvesting of grapes, Commercial advice on vinyard establishment, Processing of grapes, Fermentation, Maturation and blending, Stabilisation and clarification, Economics of wine production, Elevage / maturation, Blending, Preparation of finished wine for bottling, Quality assurance and control, Bulk shipment, Investment strategies, Financial and commercial structures, Supplier/customer relationships, Distribution, Independent retail, Wine laws and regulations, Wine judging