Ben Glover's true calling

This would have been the case, had it not been for his father's decision to eschew dairy farming in favour of grapegrowing, which sparked an interest in the young Glover and led to him training as a winemaker, taking over the reigns at Wither Hills and last month being appointed to the lofty post of Group Winemaker of the New Zealand arm of drinks multinational Lion Nathan.

"When my father realised that none of his children wanted to continue getting up at 5am every morning and milk 200 cows, he thought it best to find a more agreeable farming opportunity in Marlborough," explains Glover. "Grapes were just starting to emerge in the district in the early 80s, so instead of milking and feeding out, I found myself training young vines and bud-rubbing."

Glover went on to study winemaking and gain experience in the vineyards across the world.

Back in his home turf of Marlborough, he was invited by long-standing local winegrower Brent Marris to join his new venture, Wither Hills, whose success led to it being snapped up by Lion Nathan in 2002.

In 2007, Glover took over the role of chief winemaker. Coming in the wake of the media frenzy over discrepancies between the sauvignon Wither Hills submitted for competitions and that which was available in the shops, it was not the easiest time to take on this mantle, but Glover weathered the storm and considers this cloud to have had a silver lining.

"If anything, the media coverage only made consumers more aware of our brand, and made people want to drink the wine to judge for themselves," notes Glover.

Under Glover's oenological guidance, Wither Hills rose from the scandal, has grown and has gone on to scale new heights.

One personal milestone for Glover was the release of the estate's impressive single vineyard wines: the intense and elegant Rarangi sauvignon blanc in 2007 and the launch this year of a duo of pinot noirs - the rich Benmorven and minerally Taylor River.

In his new role, Glover will remain the chief winemaker and face of Wither Hills, while driving the style of the wines across Lion Nathan's local portfolio. "This is really hands on, involving picking decisions, blending and growing the experience of our already talented winemaking team," he elaborates.

Along with shaping the group's existing wines, Glover will oversee the haul of labels Lion Nathan bought from Pernod Ricard late last year, including big names like Lindauer.

"We believe we have been very lucky to acquire a few real gems from Pernod and are looking forward to maintaining style and building on the quality credentials of brands such as Corbans and Huntaway especially," says Glover of his plans.

As one of New Zealand's pre-eminent winemakers, a respected wine judge and member of key wine committees, Glover is now woven into the fabric of our wine industry.

If his father hadn't ditched dairying, Glover would probably have found his way to wine regardless.