Our people

Born in Southland and raised in rural Canterbury, Smith graduated with distinction from Lincoln University in 1984, and has gone on to forge a 40-year legacy in the New Zealand wine industry. He is a professional viticulturist, having spent his formative years working alongside Dr Richard Smart. A 10-year stint at Villa Maria Estate followed. In 1999 he co-founded and steered Craggy Range for 16 years, crowned as the best winery in the new world by Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2014.

In 2016 Steve co-founded Aotearoa New Zealand Fine Wine Estates (AONZ) with his good friend, Brian Sheth, making the most of more than 35 years’ experience with the growers and makers of New Zealand. They released the first wines from Smith & Sheth that year. The following year, in 2017, they added Pyramid Valley and Lowburn Ferry to the AONZ family, alongside the purchase of what is now the Omahu vineyard in the Gimblett Gravels.

Along the way Steve became the only viticulturist in the world to have passed the prestigious Master of Wine examination, has been inducted into George Fistonich’s Legends of New Zealand Wine, and been selected twice in the list of 50 most influential people in the world of wine. He has sat on a number of wine sector boards including New Zealand Winegrowers, being founding chair of the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association and chair of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, New Zealand’s national wine competition. He has been awarded a Winston Churchill Scholarship, a Prime Ministers Business Scholarship to study entrepreneurship and marketing at Stanford University and in 2021 was named a fellow of New Zealand Winegrowers.