Three Fates is the winegrowing and winemaking project of Holly Girven Russell, Hester Nesbitt, and Casey Motley.
The 2020 pandemic saw an opportunity arise for a struggling vineyard to come under new management. Relatively unknown to each other, and brought together by kismet, winemakers Holly, Hester, and Casey leapt at the chance and Three Fates was created.
Three Fates is an evolving project, united by a focus on capturing vineyard-derived flavour and vibrancy. Working intuitively with a light touch in the winery, the aim is to let each site and season speak clearly; trapping a moment in time and reflecting the energy of the fruit as it comes from the vine. It’s a space for the trio to follow their instincts and make the wines they want to drink.
After four years working a magnificent hillside site, 2025 saw a move into new territory, exploring organically farmed vineyards across Hawke’s Bay, each bringing its own character and excitement.
Casey Motley
As a teenager, Casey enjoyed a short internship at Paritua Winery so went straight from high school into a wine degree at EIT with dreams to travel the world. The following ten years saw her work at wineries across New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Austria and France with exposure to winemaking at all scales. The most rewarding experiences were those where there was a fusion of vineyard and winery; the winemaking truly decided in the field. This was first realised while working with Mac Forbes in the Yarra Valley in 2015, coincidentally an experience Holly would share 5 years later.
Particularly memorable was the time spent at Weingut Jurtschitsch where the medley of tradition and modernity was ever-evolving. It was at the prestigious Domaine De Montille in Burgundy that her passion for the vineyard was unlocked and after a year she returned to New Zealand for a summer in the vines at Millton, her European way of life coming with her.
These days Casey has traded cellars for lecture theatres as she works towards becoming qualified as a nurse, her incredible people skills and affinity for high pressure situations making this a great fit. Casey does an exceptional job balancing study, work, and Three Fates where she not only runs the Wellington market but also is a jack of all trades from the vineyard to the cellar. She has a particular skill for eyeing up any vehicle and knowing exactly how many 225L barriques will fit inside (her Subaru Legacy takes two comfortably.)
Hester Nesbitt
After completing winemaking studies at Lincoln, Hester headed abroad first to Adelina in the Clare Valley, then onto Greyfriars in Surrey to make sparkling wine. Following that, she lived in France for a year and worked harvest at Francois Villard in the Northern Rhone making Cote Rotie and Condrieu after spending winter on the ski slopes. She’s had time to clock up a few harvests in New Zealand at Te Mata (where she’s remembered for her barrel skills) and Elephant Hill where she met Holly. A particularly notable harvest was spent in Sonoma making premium Pinot Noir at Merry Edwards.
Hester is the brains of the operation; not only does she have a Bachelor in Plant Biotechnology, a Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology, but also a Master of Global Business! Her current day job has her driving tractors on a sheep, beef, and cropping farm in Central Hawke’s Bay, making her an absolute font of knowledge for podcast recommendations and Spotify playlist curation. Harvest days would be impossible without Hester’s skill at reversing trailers and mastery on the ATV down the narrow vineyard rows, not to mention her hookups with a ute or two.
Holly Girven Russell
Holly came to winemaking at the ripe old age of 25, but grew up in a winemaking household witnessing what an exciting and fulfilling life it could be. Rather than heading straight to winemaking school, she started as an analyst in the Wine Buying team at Marks & Spencer in London where she spent a few years tasting widely and becoming increasingly infatuated with the world of wine. In 2017 she returned to Aotearoa to complete Graduate Diploma in Wine Science at Auckland University, based on the beautiful Waiheke Island. Following this she bounced around working three harvests at Elephant Hill, a harvest at Tawse in Ontario, and a particularly inspiring harvest with Mac Forbes in the Yarra Valley. In between these experiences she did every other wine job there is, from bottle stores to vineyards, cellar doors to packaging logistics, and a summer in a winery lab.
With her frugal nature and deluded confidence in learning anything from Google, Holly runs most of the Three Fates marketing, admin and logistics from curating our website (hello!) to organising bottling dates and dry goods. Based in Auckland, she manages the trade up there and relocates to Hawke’s Bay during harvest, taking up residence in her childhood bedroom so she can have one-on-one time with the grapes every day.