Our Team
Meet the Team Behind Isabel Vineyard
Michael and Robyn Tiller
Proprietors
Mike and Robyn established Isabel Vineyard in 1982. They take great pride and pleasure in pursuing their dream of producing inspired wines with strong expression of individual style and character as determined by the vineyard soil and site.
The Accounts Team
Chris Sisson – Financial Accountant
Originally from Tauranga but moved to Marlborough to live the dream, Chris reckons he is here because he enjoys working with “Good People” but we know its more because of his love of good wine!
Gail Whiterod – Administration Assistant
Gail has recently to Marlborough from Palmerston North, Gail comes from a retail and administratin background and is the newest member of the Isabel Family, she moved to Marlborough for the sunshine and her love of fishing.
The Winery Crew
Carlos Orgiles Ortega – Winemaker
Carlos joined the Isabel family in March 2012 after working in a number of wine regions including Spain, Chile, California, France and New Zealand.
Carlos endeavours to make wines that reflect the individual characters from the vineyard and the superb Marlborough climate, creating expressive, as well as complex and elegant wines. “I think that the Marlborough region has natural winemaking conditions; it is well known for its Sauvignon Blanc and also this cool climate holds great potential for the increasingly explored varieties such as Pinot Gris.”
Jane Tiller – Assistant Winemaker
Jane is an enthusiastic addition to the winemaking team. Concentrating her focus on the cellar and endless amounts of cleaning, maintenance, and topping barrels! The final stage of the wine is also in Jane’s able hands with our in-house bottling line.
Jane’s skills reach beyond the winery, time spent backpacking throughout South America and Europe has given her the ability to cope with the tight schedule of international and national marketing trips. Her natural passion for the family business shows when meeting some of the world’s best culinary experts and our loyal Isabel fans.
Kyle Yates – Cellar Hand
Kyle is our cellar hand extraordinaire and is a young up and coming wine maker who shows alot of passion for his craft. He fits really well with the philosophy of Isabel and shows alot of enthusiasm about organics. Kyle finished studying wine making at Lincoln University in late 2011 and is responsible for helping Carlos with the winemaking process.
Chris Lippiat – Production and Logistics
Chris is an important member of the production team helping to co-ordinate the warehouse and bottling line to ensure that our orders go out in time.
As a member of MENSA, Chris brings to the team knowledge of just about anything you can think of to talk about, and is infamous for educating us all at our weekly meetings with his “Word of the Week”.
Out in the Vineyard
Brad Tiller – Vineyard Manager
A graduate from the University of Auckland Brad completetd his Bachelor of Science. Brad is keen to put into practice much of his previous 4 years of research and study into the family business. With the degree-box ticked and the city life behind him, Brad is back at his roots – out in the vineyard, where he was found most of his childhood – playing on tractors, riding motorbikes, fixing things that weren’t even broken, and chasing around his Dad.
Keen to continue Isabel’s reputation as one of Marlborough’s leading vineyards, and with a double major in Environmental Management and Physical Geography, Brad is the driving force behind Sustainable and Organic certification and constantly adapting newer technologies into the vineyard.
Jeremy Foley a.k.a Jerry (left)- Machinery Supervisor
Jon McFall (right) - Machinery Operator
Born and raised in Northumberland, UK (town where parts of Harry Potter were filmed) Our resident Hobbit Jon, studied a degree in Business Finance in York before heading off on an overseas expedition where he travelled through North America, Asia, Australia and NZ before joining us here at Isabel on a temporary contract mid last year – thing is he turned out to fit right in here so we decided to keep him on and he was offered a permanent position as part of the extended family.
Jon considers himself a bit of a foodie working and eating at some top restraunts during his travels where he discovered a passion for wine in particualr wines from Right bank Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian Reds, and has now discovered a weak spot for Marlborough Pinot – At least he works out in the vineyard not down in the cellar!
The Sales and Marketing Girls
Caitlin Tiller – International Sales & Marketing Manager
Caitlin, our resident “twit” (@caitlintiller), brings an interesting background to the team at Isabel. After completing her high school education at a boarding school in Christchurch, she went on to Victoria University in Wellington to study Environmental Science and entertaining her creative side by dabbling in Digital Media Design. After she decided to join the family business in 2009 she quickly learnt the ropes of marketing (self taught) whilst working in the tasting room & hosting an array of visitors. Now she is now responsible for all of our international markets, some 20 odd! So she is often jet setting across the globe to visit Isabel customers, host tastings, attend events & share the Isabel story. In her spare time she is either attending, hosting or planning social events usually comprised of enjoying wine.
Ruth Thompson - National Sales and Marketing Administrator
Qualified in Retail Management and Marketing, Ruth was born in Scotland but has called NZ home for the last 20 odd years. Ruths role involves managing our domestic market place & managing direct to customer sales such as keeping our mailing list subscribers in the know! She spends her time here at the winery cracking jokes, planning winery events, keeping in touch with our customers through social media and email, playing pranks as well as keeping the website and blog up to date.