Our People
Johanneshof Cellars was established in 1991 by two winemakers from opposite parts of the globe. Warwick Foley from New Zealand and German friend Edel Everling combined their European wine tradition with modern technology and founded one of Marlborough's pioneering artisan wineries. In 2021 Johanneshof can look back on 30 years of crafting exceptional wines in a unique place.
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Edel Everling M.Sc. Viticulture & Oenology
Edel grew up in Ruedesheim am Rhein, which is situated on the Rhine and part of the famous winegrowing area Rheingau in Germany. This area is world renowned for its Riesling, but also growing other aromatics and Pinot Noir. Edel grew up in a winemaking family and can trace back five generations of winemakers on both sides of her family with her parents and grandparents growing and making wine in Rheingau and previous to that - like generations before them - around Bohemian areas across the border from Vienna, now in Slowakia. From an early age Edel was helping in the vineyards overlooking the river Rhine where vines grow on the steepest slopes imaginable. This stood her well when meeting Warwick in New Zealand who had established Marlborough's first steep hillside vineyard in 1977. Before the two went into business together Edel continued her travels around Australasia for more than a year and finished her degree in viticulture and oenology at Geisenheim University in Germany. Working at the world renown Wine Research Institute of Geisenheim in the Department of Grape Breeding and Grafting under the leadership of well-respected wine scientist Prof. Dr. Helmut Becker, gave her an in depth knowledge of growing vines and crafting wines from a scientific and practical angle, while working in different size wineries and a distillery set Edel up for creating her own winery on the other side of the world. |
" Foley’s winemaking philosophy is refreshing and remarkably real; quite genius in its simplicity: great wines are born as a result of great effort; greatness isn’t a given, it is earned." |
Warwick Foley
Warwick, a fifth generation New Zealander grew up on the property that he and Edel later established Johanneshof Cellars on. As a teenager his parents encouraged him to follow his dream and plant one of the first vineyards in Marlborough on their land in 1977, just four years after the first commercial grapes had been introduced to Marlborough. The vineyard at Koromiko consisted of mainly Riesling and some different varieties, and was later replanted entirely with Pinot Noir. Named "Maybern Vineyard" after Warwick's parents May and Bernhard it was one of the first vineyards in Marlborough and the first steep hillside vineyard planted in Marlborough. To learn about winemaking Warwick ventured north to work at NZ's first wine research station in Te Kauwhata near Hamilton where he met Edel in the early 1980s. Taking up viticulture and winemaking training in Germany led him to work in renown wineries in Rheingau and Baden for the following five years. While attending Geisenheim University as a guest student he took the opportunity to subsidise his studies by working as an English tour guide at the famous winery and cellar of Schloss Johannisberg and as steward at one of the world's most famous wine auctions in Kloster Eberbach in Eltville, both in Rheingau. Warwick and Edel took every opportunity to visit most of Europe's wine growing areas, attested by the incredible wine collection of some 2000 bottles of European wines ranging from Portuguese Vintage Ports in the west to Hungarian Tokajs in the East and everything in between. Edel and Warwick have been thoroughly immersed in this rich wine culture and have a deep understanding and admiration of the culture and tradition of these millennia old wine growing areas. |