Winepress - June 2024

GENERATION Y-INE

Full circle

Dairy farming, marketing, design and research… Sanne Poulsen took a round-about route to become Babich’s winemaker

KAT PICKFORD

AFTER MORE than a decade in the wine industry, stepping into the winemaker role at Babich Wines last year came with a keen sense of having “come full circle”, says Sanne Poulsen.

Originally from Denmark, Sanne spent her high school years specialising in the sciences in preparation for veterinary studies at university. However, a six-month gap holiday in 2001 put paid to those plans, when Sanne fell in love with the untamed natural beauty of New Zealand.

“My parents were keen sailors and I loved rock climbing and hiking, so when I was growing up I was often out on the water with them, or dragging them out to come hiking with me,” Sanne says. “It’s ironic really, because I’ve always loved the outdoors, but have ended up working in a winery, largely indoors.”

At the end of her six-month holiday she took up the offer of work on a dairy farm in the North Island and spent the next four-and-a-half-years working in New Zealand while studying for a diploma in agri-business management.

In a complete departure from the outdoors-centric life she had led up to that point, she chose to study design and marketing at Otago University, followed by various research and consulting projects. After winding up in Blenheim for a “random job”, she got to know some winemakers who thought her skills were well-suited to a career in wine.

“With a background in science, combined with my practical experience in farming, they convinced me that the wine industry might be a good fit,” she says. “So I picked up a vintage cellar hand role at Vavasour in 2016 and knew immediately that it was something I could see myself in long term.”

After her first vintage and some work in the lab and in quality control at Grove Mill, Sanne moved back to Europe to further her career in the Old World of wine.

While working abroad she studied online with University of California, Davis and completed a graduate diploma in winemaking and viticulture.

After several vintages in Europe, including Burgundy and the South of England, Sanne decided to return to New Zealand and once again came down-under to run the night

shift in the lab at Babich Wines. That was vintage 2018. After a series of promotions, culminating in the winemaker and lab manager role in 2023, Sanne feels that her self belief and patience has paid off.

“Individually, some of the work and experiences I’ve had might seem a bit random, but they’ve all contributed in some way towards this role,” she says. “Collectively, they contribute to this well-rounded skill set that could be applied to many different areas. It very much feels like I’ve come full circle.” After more than a decade in the wine industry working with some great winemakers around the world, Sanne has had plenty of time to develop her own winemaking philosophy.

“Being a good winemaker is all about having the ability to make a good assessment [of the fruit] and applying your skills accordingly. On a good vintage there is room to be very hands off and let nature shine. With a not-sogreat vintage I wouldn’t hold back from using a little bit of winemaker magic to make the wine as good as possible.”