Jules Taylor is celebrating something many of us would like to do all over again; turn 25, only this time round it's the birthday of her wine brand. 

The first vintage of Jules Taylor Wines was in 2001 with a block of hand picked Pinot Gris that was pressed directly to barrel and fermented with wild yeasts.

“I had already worked many vintages for other wineries and at that point I was working for Marlborough Valley Cellars, a contract facility producing Kim Crawford Wines, Saint Clair and Cairnbrae. My boss and the board persuaded me it was time to get out there and try my hand at my own label," says Taylor.

“We only made 400 cases of that first vintage of Pinot Gris and Riesling. I figured if they didn’t sell, we’d just have a great Christmas sharing them with the family. I never dreamed this would become my full time gig and support two skinny teenagers through school and varsity.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. 

When she launched her brand there were 64 wine companies in Marlborough. Today there are 140. The area planted under grapevines has grown exponentially during the same time from 4,354 hectares to 30,444 hectares.

There have been many wins, strong accolades and trophies for Jules Taylor Wines over the past quarter of a century but her first love in the wine industry is the people.

"Meeting the people at the end of the line who are enjoying our wines, seeing the joy these wines bring and meeting the characters who have chosen to drink them - that’s pretty satisfying. It makes all the ups and downs worthwhile.”