Winepress - August 2024

From entrant to judge

Tahryn Mason has been on both sides of the contest and sees benefits all round

BEV DOOLE

IN 2022 Tahryn Mason took out the Marlborough and then the National Young Viticulturist of the Year title. Now he’s back as one of the Marlborough judges and he’s in awe of the high standard of the contestants. “It’s only two years since I won but I’d be cautious about competing against some of these new ones. The calibre of the contestants was really high this year - I’m really impressed at what they know and what they can do at such a young age.”

Tahryn, who is Viticulture Operations Manager at Berakah Vineyard Management, wrote and judged the pruning section of the competition, which is a mix of theory and practical. “The theory includes diseases around pruning, the physiological aspect and the effect that pruning has on the vine.” For the practical test three different vines are pruned in three different styles, including two-cane long spur pruning for Sauvignon Blanc.

“Long spur is obviously something that has been around for a while but it’s come to the fore since Covid. The research suggests it’s a style of pruning that’s well suited to the way Sauvignon likes to grow, and it also has labour cost advantages. We try to make the competition topical. As young vits they should be abreast of new developments and how that affects the choices we’re making in the vineyard.”

Learning, making connections and building confidence are all benefits from competing. But most importantly, says Tahryn, is getting exposed to a lot of people working in different parts of the wine industry and starting to form ideas about what your own career path might look like.

“I cannot overstate how competing in the competiton has massively helped my career. Just competing, let alone placing or winning, gets your name and face out into the industry. It’s a great way to build connections early on in your career that are long-standing.” Two years on from winning and Tahryn is still getting job offers. As for the current crop of Young Vits, he says if this level of competition continues the industry is in safe hands.

The contestants, from left at back: Liv Bishop, Delegat; Eric Bryan, Indevin; Andre Dippenaar, Constellation; Anna Kelland, Constellation; Lizzie McMullen, Seresin; Dan Du, Whitehaven; Harry Watson, Spy Valley; Nav Sandhu, Little Oasis. At front: Laura Hammond, Babich and Harrison Chou, Pernod Ricard