Cellar Opportunities

Getting a taste of the wine industry

BRENDA WEBB

NEW ZEALAND’S closed borders present huge employment opportunities for Marlborough’s upcoming harvest, according to industry members. at a Cellar Operations Taster Day at Nelson Marlborough Institute

of Technology (NMIT) in January, attendees heard encouraging first-hand stories from Wine Marlborough’s Loren Coffey, Kathrin Jankowiec from Villa Maria and Jerrym Lamb from Marisco about their own foray into the wine workforce. All three agreed the current closed borders and shortage of labour presented wonderful opportunities in a huge variety of roles.

The open day was designed to give an insight into what is required to become part of a cellar vintage crew during harvest and explain about NMIT’s cellar operations programme. Demand for workers is currently high and Kathrin told those present to “not be shy – go and knock on doors”. She was speaking from experience – in 2007 Kathrin was a broke backpacker when she approached a local winery asking for work. “They said I could start tomorrow on $14 an hour – enormous for a backpacker – and I would be working 12 hours a day,” she said. “I thought something was lost in translation, but I soon got used to the long hours.”

Those long hours, including night shifts, didn’t deter Kathrin and she stayed on after harvest, taking on various roles, learning along the way and working up to her current position as production winemaker with Villa Maria. “I had a lightbulb moment when I was driving to work one morning and was really excited – normally it’s the other way around – you are excited when you are going home,” she said.

The seed was planted and Kathrin set about seeing how she could carve out a career in the wine industry, which she described as a dynamic place to be in. “I was very curious and made the effort to learn everything about the job from the shop floor up.” She talked to open day attendees

about the wide range of roles available and, in particular, noted that closed borders presented huge opportunities for employment.

“It’s such an interesting and challenging industry and I think that’s because people are so passionate about it,” said Kathrin. “You work so hard all year – you put blood, sweat and tears into the bottle and at the end you sit and share it with friends and you know you have captured the entire season, the people and the flavour in the bottle.”

Key to surviving the long shifts and irregular hours of harvest was staying healthy, developing good sleep habits and managing your social life, according to Kathrin. “I set up the house by blacking out the windows, use ear plugs and have soothing music,” she said. “It takes a few days to settle into the rhythm of night shift and once I’m in it I don’t change – even if I have a day off.”

Loren Coffey, events manager with Wine Marlborough, gave an overview of the industry in Marlborough and encouraged those present to embrace the many opportunities that working a vintage presented. She started out in the industry by default – working a harvest at Cloudy Bay to earn money to go to Australia to work as a dental nurse. She soon realised her heart lay in the wine industry and after doing many vintages and working many roles in Western Australia and Marlborough, she returned here permanently, moving on to work with Wine Marlborough.

“You can move through the industry quickly depending on who you work for, what you want to achieve and what qualifications you have or are prepared to get,” she said. “There are so many opportunities ranging from the viticultural side, the winemaking and cellar side through

to sales, marketing and finance.” Loren loved the vintages she did, saying they were an incredible leaning opportunity, presenting a wonderful introduction to the industry.

Jerrym Lamb grew up on an orchard in Marlborough and, as a student, spent summer holidays working in vineyards to earn money doing “mundane” work such as wire lifting and bud rubbing. He spent five years in other industries before working a vintage primarily to fund his overseas travel.

“That experience changed the path of my working life, and post-travel I came back to work in the industry fulltime,” he said at the open day. “I loved the team mentality

and the huge variety of work. Working in the cellar opened my eyes as to what goes into the overall operation.”

Entering the industry by doing a harvest in the cellar provided many opportunities to upskill. “You are problem solving on a daily basis and the wine industry provides such a great structure for moving forward,” said Jerrym, who is now cellar supervisor at Marisco.

Vintage itself was hard work and those considering it needed to be physically fit and prepared for long shifts wearing heavy boots and standing on concrete floors. The upside was the team environment, the training and support provided and the opportunity to make the wine industry a career path, according to Jerrym. “There is a huge emphasis on team culture and we work really hard to create that during our induction week as people learn much quicker if they are comfortable with the people they are around,” he said.

Participants at the open day were taken to visit two wineries – Indevin and Lawson’s Dry Hills – before returning to NMIT to mix and mingle with employers from the industry looking for staff for harvest.

Catherine Harris, programme lead specialist from NMIT, says attendees left the taster positive about their possible futures in the industry. “It was a great day, very successful and wonderful to be able to share it with the community.”