Winepress - August 2023

Generation Y-ine

A wine career brewing in Marlborough

KAT PICKFORD

THE INDUSTRY saying “it takes a lot of beer to make good wine” rings truer for Mengran “Joyce” Zhu than most. Born in the Chinese city of QingDao, home of the hugely popular pale lager Tsingtao, the 28-year-old grew up surrounded by a robust beer drinking culture.

It wasn’t until she landed in Christchurch as an international student aged 18, that Joyce learned about wine and New Zealand’s reputation as a world class producer of new world Sauvignon Blanc. “Where I grew up all my family and friends were drinking beer exclusively,” Joyce says. “Wine was something pretty new. I didn’t know much about it, so I was immediately fascinated. As a career the industry sounded like a lot of fun.”

Joyce embarked on a three-year bachelor’s degree in Viticulture and Oenology through Lincoln University in 2013, picking up her first job in the wine industry with Pernod Ricard as a vintage cellar hand in 2016. The following summer she worked in the cellar door, then picked up a job as a lab technician for vintage 2017. In 2018 Joyce went back to university to study a research master’s degree of Applied Science in Viticulture and Oenology.

Academic learning is highly valued in China, Joyce says. Her grandparents work in university and research institutes and her parents are “very ambitious” for their only daughter, who was born during China’s one-child policy, which ran from 1980-2016. After completing her research project in 2020, Joyce’s plans to gain some international wine experience were put on hold thanks to the pandemic, so she picked up a vintage job in the lab at Indevin, then landed a full-time position at Villa Maria as a senior lab technician later that year.

Almost three years on, Joyce is excited her travel plans are finally coming to fruition this month, with a threemonth stint in a small boutique winery in Oregon. “If you look at my resumé, I’ve worked at large scale wineries in niche roles, so I’m really excited to work for a smaller producer where I will be hands on in everything from the fruit receival area right through to the bottling line.”

While it took a while for Joyce to get used to the slower pace of life in New Zealand - Christchurch was akin to “a giant farm” compared to the booming metropolis she grew up in - she can see herself based in Marlborough for a while yet. “Life here is very different to QingDao where everyone is working all the time and very busy. But now I’m totally into it here, I love the lifestyle, there’s so much to do outside of work like hiking and diving, it’s such a beautiful place.”

While Joyce still loves the beer of her hometown, she is determined to make her mark as a winemaker and sees Marlborough as a key place to hone her skills.

“The industry is expanding, you can see it in all the new plantings and the whole industry is blooming thanks to the popularity of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which is my absolute favourite to drink, it’s so zingy and fresh and herbaceous. I’m looking forward to the next few years and seeing where all my combined experiences take me.”