Rob Eliott is the founder of Winetopia and heads up Lemongrass Productions, which runs this epic event each year. This year was the tenth for Winetopia and the event was held at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland.
Rob and his team are an inspirational, well run machine and work incredibly hard to make this consumer wine lover focussed event so successful. I have been employed to host masterclasses, stage talks and wine blind tastings at Winetopia every year for the last seven. This year I wanted to share what makes this event tick so here's an interview with Rob, who was interviewed a week after Winetopia - and the after party - were done and, very successfully, dusted.
What’s the best thing about Winetopia now that it’s 10 years young?
Rob: "That it has more enthusiastic people coming to it than it ever has before."
Who or what was your inspiration to start Winetopia?
Rob: "We were running a big food event, Taste of Auckland, and noticed a desire from lots of great New Zealand wineries to be a part of it. We started to delve a little deeper and got to understand just how incredible the New Zealand wine scene has become - so many great people creating wines of incredible quality, but not one event in our biggest cities where you could go to explore it all in one day. We had been to plenty of trade tastings, but they always felt there was an atmosphere lacking. So we set out to create a great day out for wine lovers, where the wineries would in turn meet a great new customer set."
What’s the biggest change to Winetopia over the years, in a nutshell?
Rob: "We spent a couple of years thinking through the concept, then a couple of years tweaking it and then largely haven't mucked with the model much at all. We have a better food offering now, we have a greater demand for premium tickets and this year we finally released the WInetopia App, but the fundamental event hasn't changed greatly at all. There are certainly more wineries bringing their top end wines these days than there were at the first one. Ultimately, Winetopia is about exploring great wines served by the people who make them, a vibrant atmosphere and lots of wine education masquerading as entertainment."
Which wine has wow-ed you the most over the past decade?
Rob: "There are so many. I've enjoyed following the trends - the emergence of New Zealand made Gruner Veltliner was all the rage a few years back, as was orange wine. Albarino continues to proliferate and there is the continual rise of Méthode Traditionelle. There was a time when sparkling wine producers told us that there was no point in them coming to a Winetopia in winter as no one would drink it. I think we had more than a dozen wineries showcasing their cuvees this year, and it is now reliably high in demand no matter what month the event runs. It is hard to go past the Trinity Hill Homage, Church Road TOM Bordeaux blend or Escarpment Kupe. Other than that, I am always raving about some of the "out of the box" Sauvignon Blancs - the mineral-laden bottles from Palliser, for example, or of course the Wild Sauvignon from Greywacke."
What’s your favourite song on the Winetopia play list?
Rob: "This may get me in trouble. There are a couple of Winetopia playlists we have created and they have mostly come from me. They have been pretty thrashed over the years and I expect some of our regular exhibitors may be a bit sick of Belly Dancer by BYOR and Imanbek getting stuck in their heads... Other than that it is 6pm in the Morning - produced by my good friend Jr Kong."
Who inspires you the most in life?
"The biggest inspiration is my mother. She has a strength of will to keep going and just get on with it, which makes it impossible for me to contemplate giving up on anything. We almost lost her 11 years ago, but she survived six intense operations and, despite all odds and battles since, is still going strong. There are also a bunch of entrepreneurs I follow, and of course Axl Rose - another legend who is somehow still out there performing."
If you could change one thing in the world right now, what would it be?
Rob: "This is a tough one. I see lots of people working really hard right now just to pay bills and keep businesses afloat - pining for the pre-pandemic days when things were much more buoyant. My work in the restaurant sector (I've helped to run Auckland's Heart of the City Restaurant Month for the past 14 years) has shown me all too well how hard it has been for them of late, and the knock on-impact for suppliers like wine companies. Event operators have not been immune. But compared to the devastation in other parts of the world, this is still paradise. So, I'll say the decline of moral leadership is the thing that really worries me. Trying to explain to my children how some of the world's leaders are looked up to, and in some cases got elected, is pretty difficult when their speeches and actions lack a basic level of respect and sometimes spell doom for entire populations. Respect is a core value at Lemongrass, and for me personally. A world without it points to a strongman society that is only any good in mad max films. Simple stuff really, respect."
What’s the best thing about living in Aotearoa New Zealand?
Rob: "Access to our wonderful outdoors. You don't need to be the top one percent to enjoy a summers day on the beach, river or mountain (or cellar door). When you've got lots of money, a wonderful day is going to the beach. When you don't have money you can also have a wonderful day out, going to the beach. It's greatly improved sharing a bottle of wine with friends when you get there."
Pictured below; Alex Judd, second generation winemaker at Greywacke in Marlborough, is hosting a session here at Winetopia 2025.
Second picture below: Joelle Thomson and comedian Ben Hurley; Master of Ceremonies at Winetopia 2025.