The Wild Bunch by Joelle Thomson

Nobody needs to tell you that we've got a lot to be proud of in New Zealand. All of us I'm sure could reel off a list of things we love about being a Kiwi that's at least a metre long, but in the Top 10 of that list would surely be the New Zealand wine industry. Within our lifetimes, it has transformed from the two gallon bottles of pretty undrinkable stuff available when I was university student in the early 1980s to a world-class, award-winning billion dollar industry.

If you are looking for a book that a lot of Kiwis will enjoy reading this Christmas, pick up Joelle Thomson's 'The Wild Bunch' profiling 18 of the leading trailblazers and ground breakers in our relatively young, but incredibly successful wine industry.

Joelle Thomson has been a wine critic for nigh on 20 years and known all of the people she's interviewed for just about as long. She sees them as some of New Zealand's biggest risk-takers. They're "the philosophers, modernists, scientists, hedonists and party animals who have revolutionised our rapidly growing industry" and at the same time taught us about wine, developed our palates, discernment and tastes.

'The Wild Bunch' range from migrants arriving in NZ with nothing and nobody who went on to build wineries from scratch with little capital and in the process, became the industry's unsung heroes, right through to third generation winemakers who continue to build on the audacious spirit of their grandparents. Every chapter tells of success and failure, passion and disappointment and adversity and tenacity in the tricky seasons when the odds seemed stacked against them. There's something so incredibly refreshing and revitalising about rebels who make good. It's a wonderful read that will strike a chord for a lot of us, including those who don't drink wine.

Joelle says one of the hardest things about writing 'The Wild Bunch' was choosing the 18 people to profile and having to leave some stories out.Through interviews with people like Nick Nobilo, Kim and Jeanette Goldwater, Alan Brady, Ross Spence and Sir George Fistonich from Villa Maria Estate, Peter Babich, Michael Brajkovich from Kumeu River Wines and Mat Donaldson and Lynette Hudson from Pegasus Bay, we learn about the fragile beginnings of the industry way back in the 1960s and 70s through its growth and development in the 1980s, 90s to today.

"During writing the book, I felt really humbled and inspired by the interviews, the achievements and the tenacity of what each has done in their own different way to add to the industry", says Joelle. "I can't think of another industry where you've got to be a scientist in gumboots, be quite brainy, get your hands and feet dirty, and be quite strong and physically fit, be a risk taker, a sales star and an entrepreneur as well."

They're stories that will leave you feeling the same way so if you or someone you love are interested in gaining some insight into the challenges and triumphs of the wine industry through the eyes of some of its key players, be sure to rush out and get a copy of 'The Wild Bunch' to tuck into a Christmas stocking.

RRP $39.99 New Holland Publishers (NZ) Ltd