Celebrating International Women’s Day

Today is International Women's Day (March 8), a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. At Pacific Storytelling we will be profiling indigenous women all month as part of International Women's Day and Women’s History Month.

Nao Kumini is an Assistant Winemaker at Black Estate winery in North Canterbury, New Zealand.  Originally from Yokohama, Japan, Nao was working as a computer engineer in Tokyo when she decided to take a year off to backpack around New Zealand. That was in 2007 and fourteen years later, Nao is still living in New Zealand today.

When Nao arrived in New Zealand, she knew nothing about wine! Her first experience working with wine was at the acclaimed Central Otago winery, Felton Road. She loved learning about the wine industry and meeting a group of people passionate about their craft.

Nao is currently an Assistant Winemaker at Black Estate where she has worked for the past eight years. While she loves working with the same piece of land over consecutive seasons, she is always looking to continue her wine education and discover new places.

Nao has found the wine industry open-minded and rewarding and encourages other women to work in the field. “Women now make up a big part of the wine industry and are excelling in a variety of different roles - from the vineyard, to the winery, to sales,” she says. “For this current growing season, we have had an almost entirely female vineyard crew, which is great to see.”