KNOWLEDGE DAY

The Theme

Wine tourism sits at the intersection of land, culture, community, and commerce. Social licence — the informal but powerful permission society gives an industry to operate — is shaped by public and regulatory expectations around health, environment, sustainability, labour, culture, and community wellbeing.

The theme for the Knowledge Day of this year’s Great Wine Capitals Annual Conference is Social Terroir: Breaking New Ground. This theme responds to growing global expectations around sustainability, cultural responsibility, authentic regional

storytelling and community resilience. By exploring how wine regions can actively earn and maintain social licence, the conference will position the sector to strengthen its reputation, remain competitive in international tourism markets, and ensure tourism growth enhances rather than diminishes the places people come to experience.

What You'll Take Away

The Knowledge Day equips delegates to:

  • Recognise social licence as a strategic enabler of growth
  • Strengthen cultural and community partnerships
  • Create experiences that respect local culture, indigenous communities, heritage and landscape
  • Protect regional provenance and authenticity in global markets
  • Implement measurable sustainability practices across the land and within tourism businesses
  • Diversify tourism offerings via models that support local economies while safeguarding destination reputation

Day at a Glance

Join us to shape a wine tourism sector that earns its place in the landscape, in the community, and in the world.

8:30 am                Mihi whakatau/ Welcome ceremony & opening address

9:00 am                Session I — Indigenous Partnerships & Cultural Integrity

10:30 am              Morning tea

11:00 am              Session II — Sustainability as a Social Contract

1:00 pm                Lunch

2:00 pm                Session III — Agritourism & Diversification for Resilience

3:30 pm                Closing ceremony & drinks

4:30 pm                Conference ends

Session Overview:

Session I: Indigenous Partnership & Cultural Integrity


Authentic engagement with local communities and visitors, and responsible cultural storytelling. How to earn cultural licence in your branding, your narratives, and your visitor experience.

Session II: Sustainability as a Social Contract


Moving beyond aspirational messaging toward sustainability embedded within strategy to build customer trust, deliver community benefit, and demonstrate the role of sustainability in accessing international markets.

Session III: Agritourism & Diversification for Resilience


Exploring how wine regions can expand tourism offerings while protecting landscapes and community wellbeing. Real models, international research, and practical innovation.

Marijke Dunselman

Marijke Dunselman is the founder of Agritourism New Zealand and a leading voice in agritourism, with more than 27 years’ experience helping farmers and tourism businesses diversify and grow. She established Agritourism NZ to strengthen rural communities through tourism, training, advocacy and innovation. An internationally recognised speaker and Chair of the Education Committee for the Global Agritourism Network, Marijke brings global insights and practical expertise. Her work was recognised with the 2023 NZ Tourism Ticker Person of the Year award and the 2025 World Agritourism Award for innovation in agritourism.

Duncan Darroch

Duncan Darroch is the founder of Electric Executive and Hawke’s Bay Experiences, pioneering sustainable luxury transport and wine tourism in Hawke’s Bay. A trained winemaker and former biology teacher, he combines hospitality expertise with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility. His all-electric business model delivers premium visitor experiences while helping corporate clients reduce emissions. In 2026, Duncan was recognised with a Great Wine Capitals Sustainable Wine Tourism Award for his innovative approach to sustainable tourism

Jessica Vandy

Jessica Vandy is a sustainability practitioner and impact consultant with nearly two decades of experience working across the visitor economy in the Asia Pacific region. As founder of The Tenth Letter Consulting, she partners with destinations and tourism stakeholders to translate sustainability ambition into meaningful, evidenced impact with a focus on regenerative practice and the long-term wellbeing of place and community. Drawing on experience across the public and private sector, Jessica brings both strategic and practitioner insight to her work. She is also a senior consultant for Barcelona-based agency Global Destination Sustainability Movement, supporting global tourism destinations on their sustainability journeys.

Meagan Littlejohn

Meagan Littlejohn hails from Canada with a Masters degree from the University of Ottawa focussed on behaviour change, and a background in research and project management. She first joined the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ (SWNZ) team based in Blenheim in May 2018 as the Systems Administrator and has been managing the daily operations of the SWNZ programme as Programme Manager since January 2020. The SWNZ programme began in 1995 and leads with way internationally with approximately 98% of all producing vineyard area in New Zealand SWNZ-certified. Meagan is passionate about advancing the sustainability efforts and credentials of the New Zealand wine industry.

Karl Wixon

Ngāi Tahu / Kāti Māmoe / Waitaha / Moriori / Ngāti Toa Rangatira

Karl Wixon is a Māori strategic advisor, cultural storyteller and place-brand specialist who has spent more than 35 years helping organisations, regions and Indigenous communities develop

authentic stories that strengthen identity, reputation and long-term value. A former President of the Designers Institute of New Zealand, founding member and recent Co-Chair of Ngā Aho, the Māori Design Society, and former Board Member of Hawke's Bay Tourism, Karl has led nationally significant work across tourism, export, government and iwi. He has played key roles in New Zealand Story since 2012, including cultural lead for the award-winning Ngā Mātāpono Country Values programme, recognised with the global 2024 City Nation Place Award for Place Brand of the Year, and the Māori Partnership Story, a finalist in the 2025 awards. His work includes development of the TUKU Māori Winemakers Collective, Te Matau-a-Māui regional story for Hawke’s Bay, Māori export storyteller programmes, Indigenous intellectual property frameworks, and emerging Māori sustainability initiatives. Karl's work focuses on helping organisations engage with culture in ways that are authentic, compelling, defensible and grounded in genuine relationships with

people and place

Cameron Hayes

Cam is a marketer with a passion for driving positive change. As

Marketing Manager Sustainability at Tourism New Zealand, he brings the Tiaki Promise to life in partnership with organisations across the tourism system. Cam sits on the board of Te Araroa National Trust, has an MBA from the University of Otago and a Bachelors in marketing and PR from the University of Waikato. Outside of mahi you can find him running or tramping the

trails of Aotearoa. 

Joanna Fountain

Associate Professor Joanna Fountain is a rural social scientist based at Lincoln University, Christchurch. She has more than three decades of research experience, broadly focused on the analysis of change and resilience in tourism systems, primary industries, and communities located in rural regions. Current research

interests include the role of agritourism, including food and wine tourism, as a tool for regional regeneration; enhancing destination and tourist resilience in the face of natural hazard risks and intensifying climate variability; and exploration of the changing shape of the wine industry in the context of climate change and

shifting consumer demand. Jo has been involved in cross-cultural and international research collaboration with colleagues in settings including China/Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and France.

Jeff Sinnott

Jeff Sinnott (Ngāti Tūwharetoa - Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa)

B.App. Sc. (Wine Science) Adelaide.

Jeff realised that he was never going to cut it as a jazz drummer so in 1985 he entered the wine industry. Firstly as a sommellier in

restaurants in New Zealand & Australia, to developing a wine trade business in Melbourne then studying & graduating with distinction from Adelaide University’s Wine Science program in 1993. 

He has worked and made wine in most major wine regions in New Zealand as well as having experience in Australia, California & France. He has enjoyed roles in education & research (EIT Tairāwhiti), winemaking & viticulture (Isabel Estate,

Amisfield and Constellation) while pioneering Ostler vineyard in the Waitaki Valley, North Otago. He has consulted to wine businesses large and small in wine production, sales, marketing &

governance since the late 1990’s. He also works in advocacy, sitting on the Environment Committe of New Zealand

Winegrowers for the past 8 years and was on the Technical & Governance boards of Project Raumatatiki, Freshwater Farm Planning for Viticulture. He is current president of the New Zealand

Society for Viticulture & Oenology, the industry professional body and a proud founding member of the Tuku Māori Winemakers Collective.

John Barker

John Barker is the Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV). The OIV is the global scientific and technical reference body for the vine and wine sector, bringing governments and exports from 51 vine and wine countries to develop international standards and guidelines, to

promote research and to share data and information. A New Zealander, Dr Barker was elected in 2023 becoming the first OIV Director General from the Southern Hemisphere. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the international vine and wine sector, including as General Counsel for New Zealand Winegrowers and as a lawyer and consultant advising governments, industry bodies and producers in many countries.

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