Kate Radburnd is one of New Zealand’s most respected winemakers. With over 40 vintages under her belt she has been producing premium wines across a range of varietals and wine styles achieving gold medals and trophies around the world. She is now also the 2024 Hawke’s Bay F.A.W.C! Legend for her contributions to the Hawke’s Bay wine industry raising the profile and performance of Hawke’s Bay and the wider wine industry.
Kate came to New Zealand after graduating from Roseworthy Agricultural College, South Australia in 1983. Her first job was with Vidal, part of the Villa Maria Group where she learnt all the ropes of winemaking and fell in love with New Zealand cool climate wines. After moving on to Pask to become winemaker, shareholder and then running the company, she came to realise winemaking was where her heart was. Kate now owns Radburnd Cellars, in the Great Wine Capital of New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay.
Along the way her contributions and achievements and her natural drive for quality in everything she does have been recognised. A highly regarded ambassador for New Zealand wine, Kate has served as a senior judge at national and international wine competitions. In 2010, she was appointed Chair of Judges for the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards, New Zealand’s oldest national wine competition.
Kate has been a Director of New Zealand Winegrowers, Deputy Chair of the Council of the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke’s Bay (offering New Zealand’s largest range of wine courses), and a wine consultant to Air New Zealand. She pioneered the introduction of the winery programme for Sustainable Wine Growing New Zealand and was involved in the mentor programme for Women in Wine since it was introduced in 2018 and the Chair for 5 years. She also chaired the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction for 5 years which raises valuable funds for local Cranford Hospice.
In recognition of her services to New Zealand wine, Kate was awarded the Sir George Fistonich medal in 2010 and was made a Fellow of New Zealand Winegrowers in 2015, the first female winemaker to receive the award. In 2019, Kate was inducted into the New Zealand Wine Hall of Fame. In 2021, Kate was awarded as the “Primary Sector Industry Leader” from the Hawke’s Bay A&P Society and was the Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Hall of Fame recipient for leadership role’s in both the Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand wine sectors.
All these accolades aside, Kate isn’t in it for the glory or the gongs, she’s just happy to be making the wines she loves most, the way she wants to make them, and with great care and attention put into every single bottle from beginning to end. She is a role model for women in wine and arguably one of the Hawke’s Bay region’s most famous pioneers of wine.