Knox's fourth full-length novel, "The Vintner's Luck", was published in 1998, and was her first book to be published outside New Zealand. It chronicles the life of a peasant winemaker, Sobran Jodeau, and his relationship with the fallen angel Xas. The novel is set in 19th-century Burgundy, France, and spans 55 years. It was inspired by a feverish dream experienced by Knox when she had pneumonia. "The Vintner's Luck" won Knox widespread critical acclaim and numerous awards, and it raised her profile within New Zealand and overseas. It sold over 60,000 copies in New Zealand alone and in 2018, readers of "The Spinoff" voted it as the best New Zealand novel of the last 50 years.