The Stonyridge Team
Owner, Chief Winemaker
Stephen White
Graduating with a Diploma in Horticulture at Lincoln, University of Canterbury, Stephen then blasted off to sea on the Round The World Yacht Race in search of the meaning of life. He found it sitting under an olive tree in Tuscany, with a glass of red wine in hand… and so Stonyridge was conceived.
…winegrowers who annually produce a painstakingly assembled Cabernet of extreme quality.”
– Robin Bradley, Australian and New Zealand Wine Vintages
General Manager
Charl Van Wyk
With a background working as a Wine Buyer as well as managing high end hotels in the UK, he brings a combination of experience like no other. He comes highly qualified with a WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines & Spirits and also has experience working vintages in the Clare Valley (Australia), Stellenbosch (South Africa) and the UK.
Wine Production Manager
Martin Pickering
Martin started his career at Goldwater Estate back in 1992 and has worked on vintages in Pomerol, St Emilion & the Napa Valley. He returned to Waiheke in 2004 as winemaker of Mudbrick vineyard where he produced two trophies, twenty gold medals and dozens of other awards. He now heads up the winemaking team at Stonyridge and is a great friend to us all.
Restaurant Manager
Janis Idler
Janis joined our Team at Stonyridge in 2018 after fulfilling his big personal dream of crossing the Pacific Ocean on a sailing boat. It is with his great passion for people, his degree in International Tourism Management and his diverse hospitality background in Europe, Australasia and South America that he happened to find Waiheke Island. In love with his new lifestyle he is now leading our front of house team based on the 4 mains Stonyridge Values: Team is Family, Have Fun, Keep Learning and Pursue Excellence.
Accounts Manager
Chrissy Samuels
After working for several successful local Waiheke businesses over her past 12 years on the island. Chrissy joined the Stonyridge team in November 2013. While it was Stonyridge’s values and fine wine that initially won Chrissy’s heart, our fun-loving and ambitious atmosphere has happily kept her in our office ever since!
Join the Fun!
Do you love having evenings free, spending time in the most scenic of settings, and working alongside people you actually like spending time with..? Awesome – so do we!
We asked our team what they love most about working at Stonyridge…
Here are their top 5 most popular answers:
- Great working hours (no regular dinner service)
- Opportunities for learning about fabulous wine
- Diverse, sociable, close-knit team
- Cuddles with Eric & Rio: the famous cats of Stonyridge
- Benefits; especially staff lunch & staff drinks