Cellar-bration

Hair to there - hands on at Nautilus

SOPHIE PREECE

FROM CUTTING hair in Singapore to pressing grapes in Marlborough, Sarah Lee has used Covid-19 as an opportunity to learn a whole new skillset.

Speaking from the cellar floor at Nautilus Estate, the hairdresser has spent the morning hand sorting Chardonnay before sending to the press, then helping transfer the juice to barrel and test nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). “Now we’re getting the tippy tanks ready for the Sauvignon that’s coming in tonight.”

Sarah was born in Singapore and raised in Canada, but these days her family lives in Nelson. Last year she was working as a hairdresser in Singapore, but “Covid brought me home,” she says. When she got to Nelson, Sarah started investigating options for study. “I love what I do as a hairdresser, but wanted to go back to school and learn a new skill.”

The Level 3 Cellar Operations course at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology caught her attention. “I knew it was an industry that was in demand and also needed help because of the pandemic,” she says. “I thought it would be a good introduction to the industry and if I like it I can pursue the bachelors degree.”

She’s one of 20 in her class, from a range of backgrounds, including an airport engineer, a marine science graduate, an accountant and a beer brewer, along with several students who’ve come from hospitality work. The students have all been placed in different wineries to work the vintage, which Sarah says has provided invaluable learnings. Hearing theory about the importance of teamwork and communications in the cellar is one thing, but being on the job is where it really sinks in, she says. “A lot of the things have to be taught in the winery.”

She was originally signed up to join a large winery, but moved to Nautilus when she heard the smaller operation needed more people. “I wanted more hands on experience and to be involved in the winemaking process from start to end,” she says. “I am only in my second week and I feel like I have learned a lot.” Sarah is the only “newby” on staff, with

There are close to 100 Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) students taking part in vintage 2021, most of whom are in Marlborough, says Pam Woods, curriculum manager, primary industries. The students range from those doing the Level 3 Cellar Operations studies to those doing a vintage placement as part of their degree studies, including a group who are completing research, she says. “Staff are in regular contact with students who describe the work as exhausting but exciting, and feedback from all wineries to date has been very good.” Pam says NMIT also has three staff carrying out vintage roles “which will strengthen their industry connections”.

“It’s a good place to learn because everyone is quite passionate about what they do. I get to see every step of the process, and I get to do a bit of everything.”

other cellar hands with up to 10 years of experience. “It’s a good place to learn because everyone is quite passionate about what they do. I get to see every step of the process, and I get to do a bit of everything.”

Nautilus general manager Clive Jones says it’s always important to give someone a chance for their first vintage. “Everyone needs to start somewhere and it is great to see people develop careers in the wine industry and know you had a small part to play in helping them get started.” And Sarah has responded positively to all the challenges thrown at her, he adds. “We wish her every success in developing a career in the wine industry.”

Sarah will decide at the end of the harvest whether to continue her cellar hand work, perhaps picking up vintages overseas. In the meantime, her other skills are in hot demand on the cellar floor, she says. “Everyone is asking for haircuts.”

The Steel Deal

Cameron Steel did his best to avoid a career in the wine industry after growing up in it, instead joining the army straight from school. “But before long, I ended up diving headfirst into it,” says the young cellar hand and viticulturist, who has crammed back-to-back vintages, a bachelor’s degree and the establishment of his own viticultural consultancy into the past four years. “I love the industry and the people in it. I find wine so interesting.”

Cameron was raised in Marlborough surrounded by vines, and remembers laying out Popsicle sticks in the field when he was six years old, helping his parents develop their vineyard. School holidays and weekends were spent working in the vines, “doing bud rubbing and wire lifting and all of the fun stuff”, he says with a laugh.

It set him up well for the business he launched in 2016, Steel Viticultural Services, starting with machinery contracting, and more recently moving into management and consulting.

He loves juggling his vintage work, including back-toback overseas harvests in the Napa Valley, Australia and Marlborough, while also keeping his hand in the vineyards. “Part of what I love about this job is I get the best of both worlds – viticulture and winemaking,” he says. “I find it quite hard to choose between the two.” As well as stacking up vintages and running his own company, Cameron has also just finished a winemaking and viticulture degree at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. ”I like diving into new wine scenes,” he says, adding that his time in the army set him up well for the array of challenges he’s set in place.

Cameron, who’s now working his second season at Nautilus, had an entirely different plan for the year, with five vintages lined up for “two years of solid experience”. That marathon was to take him to China in December, then Stellenbosch, Oregon, Marlborough and Burgundy, with each harvest following hard on the heels of the last. Covid put paid to those plans, but he’s enjoyed seeing the “exceptional quality” coming into Nautilus in the lowyielding 2021 vintage, particularly for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. “I am looking forward to the wines that will come out of this.”

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